Abstract
This study aims to examine the link between male perpetration of teen dating violence (TDV) and neighborhood violence, as well as associations with gender attitudes and perceived peer and neighborhood norms related to violence among a sample of urban adolescent boys. Participants of this cross-sectional study (N = 275) were between the ages of 14 and 20 years and recruited from urban community health centers. Crude and adjusted logistic and linear regression models were used to examine TDV perpetration in relation to (a) neighborhood violence involvement, (b) perceptions of peer violence, (c) perceptions of neighborhood violence, and (d) gender attitudes. Slightly more than one in four (28%) boys reported at least one form of TDV perpetration; among boys who have ever had sex, almost half (45%) reported at least one form of TDV perpetration. In logistic and linear regression models adjusted for demographics, boys who reported TDV perpetration were more likely to report involvement in neighborhood violence (odds ratio (OR) = 3.1; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.7–5.5), beliefs that their friends have perpetrated TDV (OR = 2.7; 95%CI = 1.4–5.1), perceptions of violent activity within their neighborhood (OR = 3.0; 95%CI = 1.4–6.3), and greater support of traditional gender norms (β = 3.2, p = 0.002). The findings suggest that efforts are needed to address boys’ behaviors related to the perpetration of multiple forms of violence and require explicit efforts to reduce perceived norms of violence perpetration as well as problematic gender attitudes (e.g., increasing support for gender equity) across boys’ life contexts.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amnesty International. It’s in Our Hands: Stop Violence Against Women. London: Amnesty International Publications; 2004.
World Health Organization. Summary Report: WHO Multi-country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women. Available at: http://www.who.int/gender/violence/who_multicountry_study/summary_report/summary_report_English2.pdf. Published: 2003. Accessed on: September 26, 2008.
Rand, Michael. (2008). Criminal victimization, 2007. U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. Available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cv07.pdf. Accessed on: September 16, 2009.
Garcia-Moreno C, Jansen H, Ellsberg M, Heise L, Watts C. Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. Lancet. 2006; 368(9543): 1260–1269.
National Crime Victimization Survey: Criminal victimization, 2007. US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; 2008. Available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cv07.pdf. Accessed on: September 16, 2009.
Halpern CT, Oslak SG, Young ML, Martin SL, Kupper LL. Partner violence among adolescents in opposite-sex romantic relationships: findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Am J Public Health. 2001; 91(10): 1679–1685.
Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Extent, nature and consequences of intimate partner violence: Findings from the national violence against women survey. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice; 2000, NCJ 181867.
Catalano, S. Intimate Partner Violence in the United States. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; 2007. Available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/intimate/ipv.htm. Accessed on: September 16, 2009.
Miller E, Decker MR, Reed E, Raj A, Hathaway J, Silverman JG. Male partner pregnancy-promoting behaviors and adolescent partner violence: Findings from a qualitative study with adolescent females. Ambul Pediatr. 2007; 7(5): 360–366.
Silverman JG, Raj A, Mucci LA, Hathaway JE. Dating violence against adolescent girls and associated substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy, and suicidality. JAMA. 2001; 286(5): 572–579.
Silverman JG, Raj A, Clements K. Dating violence and associated sexual risk and pregnancy among adolescent girls in the United States. Pediatrics. 2004; 114(2): e220–e225.
Silverman JG, Decker MR, Reed E, et al. Social norms and beliefs regarding sexual risk and pregnancy involvement among adolescent males treated for dating violence perpetration. J Urban Health. 2006; 83(4): 723–735.
Tilley DS, Brackley M. Men who batter intimate partners: a grounded theory study of the development of male violence in intimate partner relationships. Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2005; 26(3): 281–297.
Harper FW, Austin AG, Cercone JJ, Arias I. The role of shame, anger, and affect regulation in men’s perpetration of psychological abuse in dating relationships. J Interpers Violence. 2005; 20(12): 1648–1662.
Malik S, Sorenson SB, Aneshensel CS. Community and dating violence among adolescents: perpetration and victimization. J Adolesc Health. 1997; 21: 291–302.
Bossarte RM, Simon TR, Swahn MH. Clustering of adolescent dating violence, peer violence, and suicidal behavior. J Interpers Violence. 2008; 23(6): 815–833 (Epub 2008 Feb 5).
Swahn MH, Simon TR, Hertz MF, et al. Linking dating violence, peer violence, and suicidal behaviors among high-risk youth. Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34(1): 30–38.
Rivera-Rivera L, Allen-Leigh B, Rodríguez-Ortega G, Chávez-Ayala R, Lazcano-Ponce E. Prevalence and correlates of adolescent dating violence: baseline study of a cohort of 7,960 male and female Mexican public school students. Prev Med. 2007; 44(6): 477–484.
Morenoff JD, Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW. Neighborhood inequality, collective efficacy, and the spatial dynamics of urban violence. Criminology. 2001; 39(3): 517–560.
Robinson PL, Boscardin WJ, George SM, Teklehaimanot S, Heslin KC, Bluthenthal RN. The effect of urban street gang densities on small area homicide incidence in a large metropolitan county, 1994–2002. J Urban Health. 2009; 86(4): 511–523.
Browning CR, Cagney KA. Moving beyond poverty: neighborhood structure, social processes, and health. J Health Soc Behav. 2003; 44(4): 552–571.
Sallis JF, Saelens BE, Frank LD, et al. Neighborhood built environment and income: examining multiple health outcomes. Soc Sci Med. 2009; 68(7): 1285–1293.
Palmeri Sams D, Truscott SD. Empathy, exposure to community violence, and use of violence among urban, at-risk adolescents. Child Youth Care Forum. 2004; 33(1): 33–50.
Rosario M, Salzinger S, Feldman RS, Ng-Mak DS. Community violence exposure and delinquent behaviors among youth: the moderating role of coping. J Community Psychol. 2003; 31(5): 489–512.
O’Keefe M. Predictors of dating violence among high school students. J Interpers Violence. 2007; 12: 546–568.
Reed E, Silverman JG, Welles SL, Santana MC, Missmer SA, Raj A. Associations between neighborhood violence and intimate partner violence perpetration among urban, African American men. J Community Health. 2009; 34(4): 328–335.
Reed E, Silverman JG, Raj A, et al. Social and environmental contexts of adolescent and young adult male perpetrators of intimate partner violence: a qualitative study. Am J Mens Health. 2008; 2(3):260–271.
Santana MC, Raj A, Decker MR, La Marche A, Silverman JG. Masculine gender roles associated with increased sexual risk and intimate partner violence perpetration among young adult men. J Urban Health. 2006; 83(4): 575–585.
Murnen SK, Wright C, Kaluzny G. If boys will be boys, then girls will be victims? A meta-analytic review of the research that relates masculine ideology to sexual aggression. Sex Roles. 2002; 17: 359–375.
Anderson VN, Simpson-Taylor D, Hermann DJ. Gender, age and rape-supportive rules. Sex Roles. 2004; 50(1–2): 77–90.
Silverman JG, Williamson GM. Social ecology and entitlements involved in battering by heterosexual college males: contributions of family and peers. Violence Vict. 1997; 12(2): 147–165.
Reed E, Raj A, Miller E, Silverman JG. Losing the "gender" in gender-based violence: the missteps of research on dating and intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women. 2010; 16(3):348–354.
Reed E. Intimate partner violence: a gender-based issue? Am J Public Health. 2008; 98(2): 197–198.
Ghanem KG, Hutton HE, Zenilman JM, Zimba R, Erbelding EJ. Audio computer assisted self interview and face to face interview modes in assessing response bias among STD clinic patients. Sex Transm Infect. 2005; 81(5): 421–425.
Metzger DS, Koblin B, Turner C, et al. Randomized controlled trial of audio computer-assisted self-interviewing: utility and acceptability in longitudinal studies. HIVNET Vaccine Preparedness Study Protocol Team. Am J Epidemiol. 2000; 152(2): 99–106.
Abbey A. Lessons learned and unanswered questions about sexual assault perpetration. J Interpers Violence. 2005; 20(1): 39–42.
Pulerwitz J, Barker G. Measuring attitudes toward gender norms among young men in Brazil: development and psychometric evaluation of the GEM Scale. Men and Masculinities. 2007; 10(3): 332–338.
Verma RK, Pulerwitz J, Mahendra V, et al. Challenging and changing gender attitudes among young men in Mumbai, India. Reprod Health Matters. 2006; 14(28): 135–143.
Cunradi C, Caetano R, Clark C, Schafer J. Neighborhood poverty as a predictor of intimate partner violence among White, Black, and Hispanic couples in the United States: a multilevel analysis. Ann Epidemiol. 2000; 10(5): 297–308.
Koenig MA, Stephenson R, Ahmed S, Jejeebhoy SJ, Campbell J. Individual and contextual determinants of domestic violence in North India. Am J Public Health. 2006; 96(1): 132–138.
Forbes GB, Adams-Curtis LE, Pakalka AH, White KB. Dating aggression, sexual coercion, and aggression-supporting attitudes among college men as a function of participation in aggressive high school sports. Violence Against Women. 2006; 12(5): 441–455.
Zaleski M, Pinsky I, Laranjeira R, Ramisetty-Mikler S, Caetano R. Intimate partner violence and contribution of drinking and sociodemographics: the Brazilian National Alcohol Survey. J Interpers Violence. 2010; 25(4): 648–665.
Temple JR, Weston R, Stuart GL, Marshall LL. The longitudinal association between alcohol use and intimate partner violence among ethnically diverse community women. Addict Behav. 2008; 33(9): 1244–1248.
Feingold A, Kerr DC, Capaldi DM. Associations of substance use problems with intimate partner violence for at-risk men in long-term relationships. J Fam Psychol. 2008; 22(3): 429–438.
Decker MR, Seage GR 3rd, Hemenway D, et al. Intimate partner violence functions as both a risk marker and risk factor for women’s HIV infection: findings from Indian husband–wife dyads. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2009; 51(5): 593–600.
Raj A, Reed E, Welles SL, Silverman JG. Intimate partner violence perpetration. Risky sexual behavior and STI/HIV diagnosis among heterosexual African American men. Am J Mens Health. 2008; 2(3): 291–295.
CDC. Homicides and suicides—national violent death reporting system, United States, 2003–2004. MMWR. 2006; 55(26): 721–724.
Chen GX. Nonfatal work-related motor vehicle injuries treated in emergency departments in the United States, 1998–2002. Am J Ind Med. 2009; 52(9): 698–706.
Centers for Disease Control. Men’s Health at CDC. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MensHealthatCDC. Accessed on: February 6, 2011.
US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). (2008). Traffic safety facts 2006: alcohol-impaired driving. Washington, DC: NHTSA. Available from: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810801.PDF. Published: 2008. Accessed on: September 16, 2009.
Wolfe DA, Crooks C, Jaffe P, et al. A school-based program to prevent adolescent dating violence: a cluster randomized trial. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009; 163(8): 692–629.
Foshee VA, Bauman KE, Ennett ST, Linder GF, Benefield T, Suchindran C. Assessing the long-term effects of the Safe Dates program and a booster in preventing and reducing adolescent dating violence victimization and perpetration. Am J Public Health. 2004; 94(4): 619–624.
Acknowledgment
The research described was supported by grants to J. Silverman from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control/CDC (U36/CCU300430-23) and to E. Miller from the W.T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reed, E., Silverman, J.G., Raj, A. et al. Male Perpetration of Teen Dating Violence: Associations with Neighborhood Violence Involvement, Gender Attitudes, and Perceived Peer and Neighborhood Norms. J Urban Health 88, 226–239 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9545-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9545-x