Attitudes Affecting Physical Dating Violence Perpetration and Victimization: Findings From Adolescents in a High-Risk Urban Community

These authors examined the associations between attitudes supporting physical dating violence (both boys hitting girls and girls hitting boys) and actual experiences with physical dating violence perpetration and victimization among youth in a high-risk community. They conducted cross-sectional logistic regression analyses using data from the 2004 Youth Violence Survey; the survey was administered to more than 80 percent of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 (N = 4,131) in an urban school district. Findings show that attitudes supporting physical dating violence against boys and girls are significantly associated with physical dating violence perpetration and victimization. The authors suggest that prevention programs seeking to reduce physical dating violence among adolescents may benefit from including sex-specific attitude modification as part of a comprehensive violence prevention approach. Modified Author Abstract.