Predicting abuse in adolescent dating relationships over 1 year: the role of child maltreatment and trauma.
Three mediators of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and dating violence perpetration during midadolescence (i.e., trauma-related symptoms, attitudes justifying dating violence, and empathy and self-efficacy in dating relationships) were tested over 1 year with a sample of students from 10 high schools (N = 1,317). Trauma-related symptoms had a significant cross-time effect on predicting incidents of dating violence for both boys and girls. Attitudes and empathy and self-efficacy did not predict dating violence over time, although they were correlated with such behavior at both time points. Child maltreatment is a distal risk factor for adolescent dating violence, and trauma-related symptoms act as a significant mediator of this relationship. The importance of longitudinal methodology that separates correlates from predictors is discussed.
Wolfe
David A
DA
Department of Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, London, ON, Canada. David_Wolfe@CAMH.net
Wekerle
Christine
C
Scott
Katreena
K
Straatman
Anna-Lee
AL
Grasley
Carolyn
C
D000293:Adolescent; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003380:Courtship; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*