Abstract

FERREIRA, Sofia Simões et al. Dating violence - knowledge and attitudes of adolescents and evaluation of the effectiveness of a brief intervention in high school students. Nascer e Crescer [online]. 2020, vol.29, n.2, pp.78-85. ISSN 0872-0754.  https://doi.org/10.25753/BirthGrowthMJ.v29.i2.18420.

Teen’s inexperience and willingness to please others make them especially susceptible to violent behavior in relationships, which they accept as natural and as displays of affection. The present study determined the prevalence of dating violence (DV) in a sample of adolescents from a high school in the northern region of Portugal and their knowledge and attitudes about DV, as well as the effectiveness of a brief intervention to empower adolescents to deal with DV. This longitudinal, interventional study randomly selected adolescents from a high school and divided them into six groups. Three were subject to an intervention focusing DV. Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI) and Attitudes Toward Dating Violence (ADV) surveys were filled out prior to the intervention. ADV survey was repeated by the intervention group after the intervention. A total of 138 adolescents from regular and professional education were included. Of these, 75.5% resorted to abusive conflict resolution strategies, 33% to severe violence, and 40.6% were victims of severe violence. Males revealed higher emotional, physical, and sexual violence legitimization perpetrated by both genders. Sixty-nine adolescents participated in the intervention, with girls showing a non-significant decrease in sexual violence legitimacy perpetrated by females and boys showing a non-significant decrease in emotional violence legitimacy perpetrated by males. A high percentage of adolescents used abusive conflict resolution and severe violence strategies. Despite adolescents active participation during the intervention, its impact in decreasing legitimization of DV was lower than expected.

Keywords : adolescent; intervention study; partner abuse.

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