Abstract:
The purpose of this project was to establish greater understanding of the relational and
situational context of teen dating violence (TDV) within adolescent relationships. Between 10
and 25% of adolescents report past year TDV. TDV victimization increases risk for injury,
antisocial behaviors, suicidal ideation and continued violence in adult relationships.2
Interventions have been rapidly developed to address TDV, but the fundamental problem is that
most have been created using theory and evidence borrowed from the adult partner violence
literature, in part because of the paucity of rigorous longitudinal TDV studies.3,4 Specifically, we
do not clearly understand what TDV looks like within adolescent relationships, and are left
guessing about the answers to even the most basic questions like “How frequently do violent
episodes occur in relationships with TDV?” and “Is there a period of increased intimacy after
TDV episodes that will stymie interventions unless directly addressed?” Without this granular
information about precisely why and when incidents of TDV occur, we are poorly equipped
to design interventions or policies to stop the violence.