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Preventing Revictimization in Teen Dating Relationships

NCJ Number
244086
Author(s)
Anne P. DePrince, Ph.D.; Ann T. Chu, Ph.D.; Jennifer Labus, Ph.D.; Stephen R. Shirk, Ph.D.; Cathryn Potter, Ph.D.
Date Published
November 2012
Length
61 pages
Annotation
This study compared two interventions designed to decrease teen-dating revictimization among a diverse sample of adolescent girls in the child welfare system.
Abstract

The social learning/feminist (SL/F) intervention focused on concepts derived from social learning and feminist models of risk, such as sexism and beliefs about relationships. The second intervention was the risk-detection/executive function (RD/EF) intervention, which focused on potential disruption in the ability to detect and respond to risky situation/people due to problems in executive function. The study found that adolescent girls in the RD/EF condition were nearly five times more likely not to report sexual re-victimization over the course of the study period compared to girls in the assessment-only group. A trend suggested that girls who participated in the SL/F intervention were 2.5 times more likely not to report sexual re-victimization compared to the assessment-only group. For physical re-victimization, the odds of not being physically re-victimized were three times greater in the SL/F condition and two times greater in the RD/EF condition compared to the assessment-only group. The interventions did not differ from one another in re-victimization rates. This suggests that practitioners have at least two viable options for curricula to use in engaging youth in re-victimization prevention. In addition, the groups did not differ in attendance. Adolescents attended an average of nearly 70 percent of sessions. This study has implications for assessing violence-exposure as a routine part of practice. The study enrolled 180 adolescent girls involved in the child welfare system. Participants were assessed four times, prior to intervention, immediately after intervention, and 2 months and 6 months after the intervention ended. Assessment procedures included a comprehensive battery of self-report and behavioral tasks designed to assess the processes of the two re-victimization intervention approaches. 11 tables, 5 figures, and 142 references