Personal and contextual predictors for adolescent dating violence perpetration

Résumé 0

Previous studies indicate that being a victim of child maltreatment and witnessing parental violence are predictors of dating violence in adolescence. The influence of the peer group, alcohol use and being female also increase the risk for dating violence, although they are still poorly researched variables. Thus, this descriptive cross-sectional study investigated personal and contextual variables associated with the perpetration of dating violence in 403 adolescents, aged 14-19, from public and private schools in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, Brazil. A multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that having suffered psychological maltreatment in childhood increases 5.37 (95% IC = 2.30-12.57) the likelihood of an adolescent being a perpetrator of verbal/emotional dating violence. Other predictive variables (witnessing parental violence, peer group influence, alcohol use and being female) were not significant. This study gathers evidence of intergenerational aspects of dating violence and indicates the need for preventive work with adolescents.