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The Effects of Moms and Teens for Safe Dates: A Dating Abuse Prevention Program for Adolescents Exposed to Domestic Violence

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

Adolescents exposed to domestic violence are at high risk for dating abuse. This randomized controlled trial evaluated a dating abuse prevention program designed specifically for this risk group. Moms and Teens for Safe Dates consisted of six mailed booklets of dating abuse prevention information and interactive activities. Mothers who had been victims of domestic violence but no longer lived with the abuser delivered the program to their adolescents who had been exposed to the abuse. Mother and adolescent pairs (N = 409) were recruited through community advertising; the adolescents ranged from 12 to 16 years old and 64 % were female. Mothers and adolescents completed baseline and 6-month follow-up telephone interviews. Booklet completion in the treatment group ranged from 80 % for the first to 62 % for the last booklet. The analyses first tested whether program effects on dating abuse varied by four a priori identified moderators (mother’s psychological health, the amount of adolescent exposure to domestic violence, and adolescent sex and race/ethnicity). Main effects of the program were examined when there were no differential program effects. Program effects on psychological and physical victimization and psychological and cyber perpetration were moderated by the amount of adolescent exposure to domestic violence; there were significant favorable program effects for adolescents with higher, but not lower levels of exposure to domestic violence. There were no moderated or main effects on sexual violence victimization and perpetration or cyber victimization. The findings suggest that a dating abuse prevention program designed for adolescents exposed to domestic violence can have important positive effects.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Justice [NIJ 2008-WG-BX-1003; PI Vangie A. Foshee] which was administered through the Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC R01CE001867-01; PI Vangie A. Foshee] which was administered through the Department of Health Behavior at UNC-CH. The study was reviewed and approved by the Public Health-Nursing Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects at UNC-CH.

Author contributions

VF conceived of the study, co-led the collection of the data, directed statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript. TB performed the statistical analyses and participated in writing sections of the manuscript related to measurement and statistical analysis. KSD co-led the collection of the data, managed the study, and wrote content related to study recruitment and program participation. LYC and VS conducted analyses to create measures, performed targeted literature searches, and contributed to the substantive content of the paper. STE, KEM, and JMB contributed to the conceptualization and direction of the randomized trial and contributed to the conceptualization, analytic strategy, interpretation of findings and the writing of the manuscript. Additionally, JMB contributed to the overall analytical approach. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 319B Rosenau Hall CB# 7440, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7400, USA

    Vangie A. Foshee

  2. Carolina Mammography Registry, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 7515, Bioinformatics Building Room 3125, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Thad Benefield

  3. Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 9196, 137 E. Franklin St., Suite 404, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Kimberly S. Dixon

  4. Graduate Institute of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei City, 110, Taiwan

    Ling-Yin Chang

  5. Department of Epidemiology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#7435, 2101 McGavran-Greenberg Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Virginia Senkomago

  6. Department of Health Behavior, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB #7440, Rosenau Hall 358A, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7440, USA

    Susan T. Ennett

  7. Department of Health Behavior, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 7440, 359 Rosenau Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Kathryn E. Moracco

  8. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 7440, 309 Rosenau Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    J. Michael Bowling

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  1. Vangie A. Foshee
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  2. Thad Benefield
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  3. Kimberly S. Dixon
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  4. Ling-Yin Chang
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  5. Virginia Senkomago
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  6. Susan T. Ennett
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  7. Kathryn E. Moracco
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  8. J. Michael Bowling
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Correspondence to Vangie A. Foshee.

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Foshee, V.A., Benefield, T., Dixon, K.S. et al. The Effects of Moms and Teens for Safe Dates: A Dating Abuse Prevention Program for Adolescents Exposed to Domestic Violence. J Youth Adolescence 44, 995–1010 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0272-6

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