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Early Childhood Predictors of Teen Dating Violence Involvement at Age 17.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Abstract

The distal relationship between risk factors in childhood and subsequent dating violence in late adolescence has not often been explored using longitudinal data. This study aims to shed light on the problem of dating violence by examining children's backgrounds at age 7 and the link to the future involvement in dating violence at age 17 using the first and seventh waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso, n = 644). The sample consists of 644 multiethnic adolescents (57.14% female, M = 17.47, SD = 0.37), mainly Swiss-born (90%), though more than half of their parents (60%) were born in another country. A latent class analysis was applied to identify three different profiles (a) zero (or minimal) involvement in teen dating violence, (b) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors, and (c) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors and of physical violence. Participants who were corporally punished and/or victims of bullying at age 7 were significantly more likely to belong to the controlling and physical violence profile than children in the non-violent class. These results suggest a certain chronicity of the effects of violent experiences in early childhood on the patterns of romantic relationships at 17 years old.

Description

Keywords

Dating violence, Longitudinal, Predictors, Risk factors, z-proso, Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Aggression, Bullying, Child, Child, Preschool, Crime Victims, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Intimate Partner Violence, Male, Young Adult

Journal Title

J Youth Adolesc

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0047-2891
1573-6601

Volume Title

51

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Swiss National Science Foundation (69025)
Swiss National Science Foundation (116829)