Dating Violence Victimization among Adolescents in Europe: Baseline Results from the Lights4Violence Project

Abstract

Dating violence (DV) among adolescents is a public health issue because of its negative health consequences. In this study, we aimed to analyse the prevalence and the psychosocial and socioeconomic risk and protective factors associated DV among male and female adolescents in Europe. It was performed a cross-sectional study based on a non-probabilistic sample of 1555 students aged 13–16 years (2018–2019). The global prevalence of DV victimization was significantly greater among girls than boys (girls: 34.1%, boys: 26.7%; p = 0.012). The prevalence of DV in both girls and boys was greater for those over age 15 (girls: 48.5% p < 0.001; boys: 35.9%; p = 0.019). There was an increased likelihood of DV victimization among girls whose fathers did not have paid employment (p = 0.024), who suffered abuse in childhood, and reported higher Benevolent Sexism [PR (CI 95%): 1.01 (1.00–1.03)] and machismo [1.02 (1.00–1.05)]. In the case of boys, the likelihood of DV increased with abuse in childhood (p = 0.018), lower parental support [0.97 (0.96–0.99)], high hostile sexism scores (p = 0.019), lower acceptance of violence (p = 0.009) and high machismo (p < 0.001). Abuse in childhood was shown to be the main factor associated with being a victim of DV in both population groups, as well as sexism and machismo attitudes. These results may contribute to future DV prevention school programs for both, teenagers and children of elementary school ages.

Dating violence and associated factors among male and female adolescents in Spain

“…In accordance with previous research [ 29 , 30 ], DV victimization is present in both girls and boys. In the case of girls, data published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights Violence Against Women Survey of 2012 shows similar prevalences to what we obtained in our study, despite the different methodologies used in both surveys [ 19 ].…”

“…In this study, we confirmed the important influence of previous experiences of violence (suffered or witnessed) on the likelihood of current DV victimization among both girls and boys [ 18 , 29 ]. Research suggests that a violent family culture may provide youth a biased model of interpersonal interaction, which normalizes aggressive behaviours and may make boys and girls learn that physical and verbal coercion are adequate and acceptable strategies for changing someone else’s behaviour and solving conflicts in their dating relationships [ 37 ].…”

“…The selection of variables was carried out through a forward stepwise procedure to explore which variables could add more significance to the model. The selected variables were also included in previous studies concerning the factors associated with dating violence [ 10 , 29 ]. The significance level considered in all the analyses was >.05.…”

Psychometric Properties and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Spanish Version of the Maudsley Violence Questionnaire among Adolescent Students

“…For example, a study carried out with a Spanish sample of 4337 students between 15 and 26 years old revealed that 26.4% of adolescents had been victims of abuse, with psychological abuse being the most prevalent form of aggression [5]. A study carried out with European adolescents showed that TDV victimization was higher in girls (34.1%) than in boys (26.7%), and there was a higher prevalence of psychological violence (control and fear) over physical and/or sexual violence, especially in girls (28.1%) compared with in boys (21%) [6].…”

Assessing Adolescent Dating Violence in the YourLife Project: Proposal of an Instrument for Spanish-Speaking Countries

“…According to studies from the USA and European countries, psychological ADV is more frequent than physical or sexual violence [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Several studies, conducted in Spain and in the USA, also find a peak in physical partner violence at the age of 16–17 [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”