Associations Between Classroom Normative Climate and the Perpetration of Teen Dating Violence Among Secondary School Students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate how classroom normative climate regarding the perpetration of teen dating violence (TDV) was related to adolescents’ self-reported perpetration of (verbal/emotional, threatening, relational, physical, and sexual) violence within romantic relationships in the previous 12 months. Based on Theory of Normative Conduct, we hypothesized that higher classroom levels of TDV perpetration were associated with a higher likelihood of individual TDV perpetration. Data were drawn from a large survey of ninth-grade students conducted in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany ( n = 10,638). From this sample, an analysis sample of n = 4,351 students at risk was drawn (mean age: 15.0, SD: 0.76; 46.6% male). More than half (54.8%) of the at-risk sample reported engagement in any form of TDV within the previous 12 months, whereby rates varied considerably by the dimension of TDV. Controlling for a range of risk factors on the classroom level (proportion of students dependent on social welfare, proportion of students with migration background) and individual level (exposure to family violence, sociodemographic characteristics, TDV victimization, and peer- and school-related factors), regression analyses showed that higher rates of classroom-level TDV perpetration were positively related to individual verbal/emotional TDV perpetration. This pattern of results was observable across all dimensions of TDV. Furthermore, gender-specific patterns of TDV perpetration were observable: Girls were more affected by classroom levels of verbal/emotional and physical TDV than boys, while boys were more affected by classroom levels of relational and sexual TDV. Results highlight the role of the wider peer context in shaping adolescent dating experiences and specifically point to the relevance of the classroom ecology for the socialization of dating violence in adolescents.

Prevalence of teen dating violence in Europe: A systematic review of studies since 2010

“…The highest perpetration rate of psychological violence for male adolescents was identified in Spain (95.3%, Fernández‐Fuertes & Fuertes, 2010), and the lowest in Denmark (19.9%, Karsberg et al., 2018). Only one gender difference was reported as significant, showing that German female adolescents reported higher rates of psychological violence perpetration than German male adolescents (59.0% vs. 42.7%, Beckmann et al., 2019).…”

“…However, considering studies in other countries that are also based on the CADRI revealed that one study from Belgium (Glowacz et al., 2018) and one from Germany (Kliem et al., 2018) were similar to each other in terms of sexual TDV victimization and perpetration but different from all other mentioned Spanish studies. However, in terms of physical TDV perpetration, some similarity was found between a German study (Beckmann et al., 2019) and two Spanish studies (Calvete et al., 2016; Izaguirre & Calvete, 2017), leaving the picture of comparison between the countries inconclusive.…”

“…Of the 43 evaluated samples, n = 34 samples were coded as having a low (0–3 points) and n = 9 samples were coded as having a moderate (4–6 points) risk of bias. Five samples, two from Germany (Beckmann et al., 2019; Kliem et al., 2018) and three from Spain (Calvete et al., 2016; Cava et al., 2015; Cava, Martínez‐Ferrer, et al., 2020), met all criteria of quality and achieved a total score of 0. Six samples, one from Germany (Blättner et al., 2015), two from Spain (Dosil et al., 2019; Fernández‐González et al., 2013), two from the United Kingdom (Stanley et al., 2018; Young et al., 2018), and one from Italy (Stanley et al., 2018) scored 4, and three further samples, one from Belgium (Glowacz et al., 2018), one from Portugal (Dixe et al., 2020), and one from Spain (Sebastián et al., 2014), scored 5.…”

Understanding the Prevalence Rates of Interpersonal Violence Experienced by Young French-Speaking Swiss Athletes

“…Sport, in addition to school and family, is an important context in which children’s and adolescents’ experiences can be greatly influenced by the adults who take care of them (e.g., parents, teachers, and coaches) and by other children/adolescents (e.g., peers). Recent studies conducted in the family and school contexts have also demonstrated the relevance of conducting research with children and adolescents to measure parental neglect ( Vanderminden et al, 2019 ), corporal punishment ( Finkelhor et al, 2019 ) as well as teen dating violence ( Beckmann et al, 2019 ). Also, as stated by Vertommen and Parent (2020) , “including children’s voices and experiences in IV in sport research would be a welcome and valuable innovation” (p. 389).…”

The Role of School Social Support and School Social Climate in Dating Violence Victimization Prevention among Adolescents in Europe

“…School, or even a classroom as a narrower area, is perceived as an important factor for the socialization of dating violence in adolescents [32]. As for the research, it is related particularly to a relative aspect of school climate and social support.…”