From Family Violence to Dating Violence: Testing a Dual Pathway Model

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Anjana Madan Morris, University of Miami; Sylvie Mrug, University of Alabama Birmingham; Michael Windle, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2015-09-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag (Germany)
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0328-7
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Youth and Adolescence
• ISSN: 0047-2891
• Volume: 44
• Issue: 9
• Start Page: 1819
• End Page: 1835
• Grant/Funding Information: This research was supported by grants K01DA024700 from the National Institutes of Health to the second author and R49-CCR418569 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the third author.
• Keywords: Adolescence; Interparental violence; Dating violence; CHILD MALTREATMENT; VICTIMIZATION; Social Sciences; INTERPARENTAL CONFLICT; ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS; Harsh discipline; Psychology; Psychology, Developmental; SAFE DATES PROGRAM; PERPETRATION; INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE; ADOLESCENT BOYS; AGGRESSION; INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral; Sociology, Public and Social Welfare

Abstract

Risk factors for adolescent perpetration of or victimization by dating violence stem from different levels of adolescents’ social ecologies, including the family, individual, and peer domains. However, these multiple risk factors have not been fully integrated into a single comprehensive model of dating violence development. The present study examined prospective links between exposure to family violence in pre-adolescence; pro-violent beliefs, aggression, deviant peer affiliation, and aggression toward opposite-sex peers in early adolescence and dating violence in late adolescence. Using a longitudinal study of 461 youth (51 % female; 80 % African American, 19 % Caucasian, 1 % other ethnicities), path modeling evaluated a theoretically developed dual pathway model involving a general violence pathway and an early romantic aggression pathway. Each pathway links exposure to family violence in pre-adolescence with early adolescent pro-violent beliefs and/or aggressive behavior. In both pathways, pro-violent beliefs may reinforce aggressive behaviors between same-sex and opposite-sex peers, as well as strengthen bonds with deviant peers. In the last part of both pathways, aggressive behavior and peer deviance in early adolescence may contribute directly to late adolescent dating violence perpetration and victimization. The findings provided support for both pathways, as well as sex differences in the model.