There are three purposes of the proposed project. The first and primary aim is to evaluate the extent to which a prevention curriculum achieves its objectives: (l) to change attitudes toward physical violence in relationships (2) to reduce physical aggression in dating relationships, and (3) to increase help seeking. The prevention program integrates material from Levy's Skills for Violence Free Relationships, information and data derived from Riggs and O'Leary's model of courtship aggression, and an operationalization of variables related to gender and justification of violence. The curriculum strives to alter specific attitudes which accept violence as a means of conflict resolution and to teach alternative strategies to physical aggression as a means of resolving conflict. In achieving this aim we focus on issues of immediate relevance to the teen- agers. Since physical aggression in intimate relationships escalates across teen-age years and early adulthood, primary prevention efforts directed at teen-agers seem theoretically and practically sound. Our pilot work was conducted with all health students in one high school in the fall semester. It indicated that the five session curriculum on prevention of dating violence led to significant reductions in attitudes toward justification of violence, and a full scale evaluation of this program seems warranted with a number of schools. A second pilot project is now underway in another school especially to assess the efficacy of a second justification of physical aggression measure.
The second aim i s to evaluate predictors of treatment response in the prevention programs (e.g., past physical aggression with peers; justification of physical aggression, attitudes and negotiation style).
The third aim i s to replicate with high school students an expansion of the theoretical model of dating aggression tested with college students. The predictor variables of dating aggression in this model will be specific attitudes related to the acceptance of aggression in the relationship, acceptance of control tactics in a relationship, control and jealous behaviors, attitudes toward sex roles, past dating aggression, and peer aggression.
| Timmons Fritz, Patti A; Smith Slep, Amy M (2009) Stability of physical and psychological adolescent dating aggression across time and partners. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 38:303-14 |
| Schumacher, Julie A; Slep, Amy M Smith (2004) Attitudes and dating aggression: a cognitive dissonance approach. Prev Sci 5:231-43 |
| O'Leary, K Daniel; Smith Slep, Amy M (2003) A dyadic longitudinal model of adolescent dating aggression. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 32:314-27 |
| Slep, A M; Cascardi, M; Avery-Leaf, S et al. (2001) Two new measures of attitudes about the acceptability of teen dating aggression. Psychol Assess 13:306-18 |
| O'Leary, K D (2000) Are women really more aggressive than men in intimate relationships? Comment on Archer (2000) Psychol Bull 126:685-9 |
| O'Leary, K D (1999) Psychological abuse: a variable deserving critical attention in domestic violence. Violence Vict 14:3-23 |
