Prevention of Dating Violence on College Campuses: An Innovative Program

Comprehensive sexuality education for fraternity-affiliated undergraduates: a pilot program to improve sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitudes, and communication

Objective: Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) allows for informed and healthy decisions. College students often lack understanding of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Conversations and Pizza (CAP), an interactive curriculum, was designed to address gaps in CSE and improve SRH outcomes. Participants: 66 fraternity affiliated undergraduate students. Methods: A six-session intervention discussed gender norms, biology, consent, harassment, and bystander intervention. Pre- and post-quantitative surveys assessed attitudes and behaviors; plus-delta format was used for qualitative feedback. Results: Qualitative data reflected engagement. Post-intervention, multiple measures improved (McNemar p < 0.05): perceived self-efficacy in consent and peer norms (4/8 measures), bystander intervention (5/6), and awareness of harassment (2/5). Participants reported more conversations with partners (pregnancy and STI prevention, 50% to 75%); human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination receipt increased (60% to 93%, McNemar p < 0.001). Conclusion: Reproductive health outcomes improved in this pilot, laying the groundwork for continued testing. CAP is a successful pilot program that can be evaluated for a variety of groups and formats.

Effectiveness of a Prevention Program for Gender-Based Intimate Partner Violence at a Colombian Primary School

Intimate partner violence, particularly against women, is widely studied owing to its high rates, based on transnational data. Colombia, where this form of violence is considerably common, is no exception, and such violence is occurring more and more often in increasingly younger couples (10−14 years old). Further, risk factors such as wide acceptance, the justification of intimate partner violence, extremely rigid traditional gender roles, and poor socio-emotional skills play a crucial role. In accordance with this reality, a gender-based intimate partner violence prevention program was designed, implemented, and evaluated for primary school children in Colombia based on a review of successful preventive programs and an identification of the main predictors of intimate partner violence. The program was evaluated using a quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design that included an experimental and a control group. In total, 344 participants were involved in the study: 195 boys (56.7%) and 149 girls (43.4%) from the second and third grades of a primary school (average age: 7.8 years) at a Colombian educational institution. The experimental group consisted of 200 participants and the control group of 144 participants. The program’s effectiveness was evaluated by measuring three groups of variables (gender stereotypes, the acceptance of violence, and socio-emotional skills) using reliable scales. To analyze the program’s effectiveness, mixed ANOVAs with a within-subjects factor (when the group was measured), two between-subjects factors (group and gender), and a covariate (age) were used. The results showed that the participants in the experimental group had lower scores in gender stereotypes, acceptance of peer aggression, and acceptance of physical violence against women compared to the control group. Conversely, they had higher scores in affective empathy after the intervention; both groups showed no significant differences before the intervention. This program is highly relevant because it has proven to have a positive impact on the participants and is innovative due to the lack of preventive programs that have been implemented in primary education and evaluated within the Colombian context.

The Causal Influence of Perceived Social Norms on Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: Converging Cross-Sectional, Longitudinal, and Experimental Support for a Social Disinhibition Model

Across three studies, we develop a model of the direct and indirect paths through which the perceived prevalence (perceived descriptive norms [PDN]) of intimate partner violence (IPV) among peers may influence individuals’ likelihood of engaging in IPV. Study 1 replicated and extended previous cross-sectional research by demonstrating a positive longitudinal association between PDN and subsequent IPV perpetration. Study 2 further showed the influence of PDN on IPV perpetration to be mediated through its relation to perceived peer acceptance of IPV (perceived injunctive norms [PIN]), which in turn predicted personal IPV acceptance. Study 3 built on this model using an experimental paradigm to show that increasing PDN leads to corresponding increases in PIN and, in turn, personal IPV acceptance, which both predicted IPV perpetration. Furthermore, the effects of PIN on personal IPV acceptance and IPV propensity were strongest for dominance-oriented individuals. Results bear important implications for social norms–based interventions for IPV.

The Role of Entitlement, Self-Control, and Risk Behaviors on Dating Violence Perpetration

Dating violence continues to be pervasive among college students (Stappenbeck & Fromme, 2010). Given the paucity of research investigating the various pathways through which risk factors are linked to dating violence among different college campuses, we use multiple group path analysis to examine the role of child abuse, self-control, entitlement, and risky behaviors on dating violence perpetration among college students from one Southeastern and one Midwestern university. There were 1,482 college students (51% female) enrolled in undergraduate courses at 2 large public universities who completed paper and pencil surveys. Dating violence perpetration was directly associated with gender, child physical abuse, and sexual and drug risk behaviors and indirectly associated with college Greek letter fraternity affiliation, self-control, and entitlement. Moreover, significant differences in the pathways to dating violence were found between the Southeast and Midwest campuses.

Influence of Parental Conflict Resolution Strategies on Hispanic College Women's Experiences With Verbal Aggression

The study investigates the relation between interparental verbal aggression, parent-daughter verbal aggression, and verbal aggression in female Hispanic college student's dating relationships ( N = 599). Results showed that mothers' high levels of verbal conflict with fathers were predictive of having high levels of verbal conflicts with their daughters. This in turn, predicted daughters' use of verbal conflict with their intimate partner. Similarly, fathers' high levels of verbal conflict with mothers were predictive of having high levels of verbal conflicts with their daughters. However, this was not found to be predictive of daughters' use of verbal conflict with their intimate partner.

Influência dos Pares e Educação por Pares na Prevenção à Violência no Namoro

Resumo A literatura aponta que a influência dos pares desempenha um papel importante na compreensão da violência no namoro, e que o uso de educadores ou líderes de pares para encorajar comportamentos saudáveis entre adolescentes tem sido um componente comum em programas preventivos dessa natureza. Por meio de uma revisão narrativa, o presente artigo buscou sumarizar aspectos teóricos relativos à influência dos pares no contexto da violência no namoro, bem como descrever estudos com foco na prevenção à violência no namoro, os quais utilizaram, no todo ou em parte, a estratégia da educação por pares como componente no desenho dessas intervenções. Ao final, são discutidos pontos fortes e limitações dos programas de prevenção à violência no namoro baseados na educação por pares, além de apontar horizontes futuros de pesquisa na área.

Variables asociadas a los malos tratos en el noviazgo en adolescentes y adultos jóvenes

Se comparó un grupo de adolescentes y jóvenes adultos solteros y sin hijos que ejerció por lo menos una conducta de maltrato hacia su pareja, con un grupo similar que no realizó este tipo de maltrato. Las variables tenidas en cuenta fueron el número de actos de violencia observados entre los padres, el porcentaje de participantes de acuerdo con afirmaciones a favor de la violencia en el matrimonio y su puntuación en rasgos agresivos y comunicación de pareja. Asimismo, se realizó un análisis correlacional entre la frecuencia de malos tratos informados y las demás variables. Participaron 417 varones y 485 mujeres, entre 15 y 35 años. Los participantes del primer grupo reportaron haber presenciado más actos de violencia entre sus padres, estuvieron más de acuerdo con afirmaciones a favor de la violencia en el matrimonio y se adjudicaron más rasgos agresivos, variables que correlacionaron positivamente con la frecuencia de malos tratos. Estos resultados señalan que estas variables deberían contemplarse en la evaluación, el tratamiento y en los programas de prevención de la violencia en el noviazgo.

Improving college campus-based prevention of violence against women: a strategic plan for research built on multipronged practices and policies

Growing awareness of the scope of violence against women (VAW) on college campuses has led to innovations in intervention and prevention These efforts have often followed best practices in prevention, have targeted different campus populations, and used varied tools. Prevention evaluation on campuses is increasing. This review briefly summarizes what we have learned about preventing VAW on campus from evaluation research and then describes a roadmap for where research needs to go. To date, most work focuses almost exclusively on sexual violence, concentrates on single programs on one campus, focuses on attitude outcomes, and most research explores main effects of program utility. More complex prevention and research models are needed including the use of multipronged prevention approaches and researching their synergistic effects; investigation of more specific program effects to better unpack what essential elements of different prevention tools are driving changes; and more complex analyses of outcomes including exploration of moderating variables. This research agenda has implications for new programs, policies, and research designs including the importance of partnerships between practitioners and researchers to actualize these goals.

Attitudes toward dating violence among college students in mainland China: an exploratory study

This study investigates attitudes toward psychological and physical dating violence among college students in mainland China (n = 245). The results of this study indicate that among our sample of college students in mainland China, men and women were relatively similar in their attitudes toward male perpetrated and female perpetrated physical dating violence and female perpetrated psychological dating violence. As has been found in previous research, men and women in our sample were more accepting of female perpetrated physical and psychological dating violence than male perpetrated physical and psychological dating violence. Finally, among several variables that predicted dating violence attitudes, shame emerged as a potentially important variable to include in future studies on dating violence in Chinese populations.