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Prevention and Intervention of Teen Dating Violence

The ultimate goal of prevention and intervention is to stop dating violence before it begins. During the preteen and teen years, young people are learning the skills they need to form positive, healthy relationships with others. This is an ideal time to promote healthy relationships and prevent patterns of relationship violence that can last into adulthood. [1]

Studies investigating the effectiveness of programs to prevent dating violence are beginning to show positive results. Most programs focus on changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviors linked with dating violence while focusing on the skills needed to build healthy relationships.

In one rigorous NIJ-funded study[2], school-level interventions reduced dating violence by up to 50 percent in 30 New York City public middle schools. Researchers evaluated dating violence and sexual harassment interventions by randomly assigning classes to receive:

1. Classroom-level interventions
2. School-level interventions.
3. A combination of classroom- and school-level interventions.
4. No intervention (i.e., the control group).

Classroom-level interventions were delivered in six sessions using a curriculum emphasizing the consequences for perpetrators, state laws and penalties, the construction of gender roles, and healthy relationships.

School-level interventions included the use of temporary school-based restraining orders, higher levels of faculty and security presence in "hot spots," and raising awareness school-wide.

Researchers found that compared to the control group who received no intervention, students who received the school-level intervention or both the school- and classroom-level intervention experienced reduced levels of dating violence and sexual harassment.

Notably, the classroom-level intervention alone was not effective in reducing these outcomes. In addition, students in the school-level intervention were more likely to intend to intervene as a bystander if they witnessed abusive behavior between their peers.

These findings are important in several ways:

• This is one of the first studies to document the effectiveness of such prevention programs among middle school students.
• Second, given the large size of the study (with more than 2,500 students) and the ethnic diversity of these students, the program may be applicable to a broad range of populations.
• The success of the school-level intervention is particularly important because it can be implemented with very few extra costs to schools.