Dating violence and interpersonal victimization among a national sample of latino youth

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis was (1) to provide the rates of dating violence victimization among a national sample of Latino adolescents, (2) to determine the degree to which different forms of dating violence victimization co-occurred for this sample, and (3) to determine how much dating violence victimization overlapped with other forms of nonepartner-perpetrated victimization. Method: This analysis used data from the Dating Violence Among Latinos Study, which surveyed 1,525 Latino adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years about past-year dating violence and nonepartner-perpetrated victimization. We calculated victimization rates and relative risk ratios to evaluate the co-occurrence among different forms of dating violence victimization as well as the co-occurrence of dating violence and other forms of victimization. Results: Results show elevated rates of dating violence victimization compared with previous studies, which is primarily accounted for by psychological dating violence. The rate of dating violence appears to precipitously increase starting around ages 13 and 14 years and is consistently higher for boys. Each type of dating violence was significantly associated with other forms of dating violence (e.g., physical and psychological). Dating violence was significantly associated with experiencing conventional crime, peer or sibling victimization, and nonpartner sexual victimization as well as being a polyvictim. Conclusions: The results support the importance of early prevention efforts with Latino youth and addressing dating violence with both sexes. Furthermore, dating violence should be seen as a potential risk marker for youth who are experiencing multiple forms of victimization.