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Patterns of Change in Adolescent Dating Victimization and Aggression During Middle School

  • Virginia Commonwealth University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although mounting evidence suggests dating victimization and aggression begin in early adolescence, little work has examined the pattern of these behaviors across this age. This longitudinal study examined trajectories of dating victimization and aggression across middle school using 12 waves of data. A sample of early adolescents (N = 1369, 52.3% girls; 83% African American; 15% Hispanic or Latino) residing in an urban, economically disadvantaged area participated in this study. Youth completed measures of dating victimization and aggression quarterly across the 3 years of middle school. Although results indicated a general trend of increasing dating victimization and aggression across middle school, variation existed for boys and girls. Specifically, girls showed increasing patterns of both, whereas boys remained relatively stable across time. Dating victimization and aggression were also highly correlated across time. These findings support the implementation and refinement of prevention programming aimed at preventing and reducing dating aggression and victimization in middle school.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)501-514
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Youth and Adolescence
Volume47
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2018

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

  • Early adolescence
  • Latent growth modeling
  • Longitudinal study
  • Teen dating violence

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