NIJ-funded Research: Risk Factors in Adolescence May Help Predict Dating Violence

A recent NIJ-funded study found that young adults with a history of maltreatment and foster care placement are at significant risk for dating violence perpetration and victimization. Researchers recruited 215 young adults who had previously been enrolled in a program for maltreated youth and obtained baseline pre-adolescent risk factors from various sources. The youth were re-interviewed through mid-adolescence and again in young adulthood. Researchers found that the majority of participants who were victims of maltreatment as adolescents had perpetrated or been victimized by dating violence in the previous year.

Given the strong association between adolescent and young adult risk factors in predicting dating violence, targeting certain processes during the adolescent and young adult years may be particularly useful for implementing intervention and prevention strategies. Learn more at https://nij.gov/topics/crime/intimate-partner-violence/Pages/risk-factors-in-adolescence-may-help-predict-dating-violence.aspx.