Teen Dating Violence from an Environmental Approach: The Interaction of Family and Community-Related Risk Factors

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to explore the impact of family violence and community-related risk factors on physical and sexual teen dating violence (TDV), emphasizing the importance of considering multiple environmental levels. The sample included 1718 Spanish adolescents (50.3% girls; Mage = 15.34, SD = 1.13). SEM models were tested to analyze the effects of family and community-related risk markers on TDV, with gender and age as covariates. The results corroborated significant relations between family and community-related risk factors and the two types of TDV. The relationship between exposure to family violence and sexual TDV was evident only when considering the role of community-related factors. Older adolescents were at higher risk of exposure to community-related factors. Understanding TDV risk markers at various environmental levels can aid in promptly identifying victims and perpetrators and providing the necessary resources to address and prevent dysfunctional dating relationships.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• community-related risk markers
• family violence
• structural equation model
• teen dating violence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical standards and informed consent

The procurement of the data required for this study was approved by the Autonomous University of Madrid ethics review board. All procedures in this study were performed following the ethical standards of the university ethics committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Parents and adolescents provided written informed consent to participate in this study.