title: Dating violence among adolescents presenting to a pediatric emergency department.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence and characteristics of dating violence experienced by adolescents seeking care in a pediatric emergency department and how often adolescents reporting victimization follow up with suggested resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  An urban pediatric emergency department.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 327 participants, 235 (71.9%) were female and 92 (28.1%) were male, with a mean (SE) age of 18.7 (0.10) years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescents aged 13 to 21 years completed a survey including demographic characteristics and a validated measure of dating violence. Those reporting victimization received information about local resources and were contacted 1 month later by telephone to determine their use of local resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dating violence exposure and subsequent use of resources.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the adolescents, 54.8% reported physical and/or sexual victimization (54.0% of girls vs 56.7% of boys; odds ratio = 0.9; 95% CI, 0.6-1.5), and 59.4% reported perpetration of physical and/or sexual violence (62.1% of girls vs 52.3% of boys; odds ratio = 1.4; 95% CI, 0.9-2.4). Girls were more likely than boys to perpetrate physical violence (52.2% vs 36.1%, respectively; odds ratio = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2-3.2) but were also more than 5 times as likely to report fear of sustaining serious injury from a partner (16.2% vs 3.1%, respectively; odds ratio = 6.0; 95% CI, 1.4- 26.2). Young age, more intimate partners, and a history of a recent physical fight were independently associated with both dating violence victimization and perpetration. Only 4 of the 127 participants with follow-up interviews (3.1%) used any resources provided.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dating violence perpetration and victimization rates for both boys and girls who had at least 1 dating relationship are high in this pediatric emergency department population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Emergency Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, 88 E Concord St, Vose 5, Boston, MA 02118, USA. bronwen.carroll@bmc.org
authors.forename: Bronwen C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raj
authors.forename: Sabrina E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Noel
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bauchner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003380:Courtship; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult