This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Schools may be failing to address adolescent dating violence
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A majority of high school counselors reported that they did not have a system in place in their schools to respond to adolescent dating violence and did not receive training to assist victims of dating abuse, according to recent study results.
“A national assessment of high school students found that as many as 30% of teenagers have experienced dating violence in the previous year,” the researchers wrote.
Jagdish Khubchandani, MBBS, PhD, MPH, of Ball State University in Indiana, and colleagues surveyed 550 high school counselors who were members of the American School Counselors Association.
Each participant completed a four-page, 17-item closed-format questionnaire developed to assess their perceptions and practices regarding adolescent dating violence. To ensure the validity of the assessment, the researchers mailed questionnaire drafts to 13 published experts in the areas of dating violence, pediatrics and survey research.
Among the high school counselors surveyed, 81.3% reported that they did not have a system in place in their schools to respond to an incident of adolescent dating violence, and 90% reported that in the past 2 years, their school administration had not provided personnel training to assist survivors of teen dating abuse. Eighty-three percent of participants reported that their school did not survey students about teen dating abuse behaviors, while 76% reported that their school did not have a committee that met periodically to address teen dating abuse.
The researchers provided the following guidelines to improve school counselors’ ability to assist victims of adolescent dating violence:
- Organizations such as the American School Health Association, the National Association of School Nurses and the American School Counselors Association should provide continuing education for school personnel — including school counselors — on how to assist victims of dating violence and improve prevention efforts in schools.
- Schools should periodically assess their students to determine the extent of dating violence and its epidemiologic characteristics.
- Advocacy groups should use the current study to provide information to legislators and school administrators.
- Research indicates that 30% to 60% of high school students tell no one about being a victim of dating violence; school counselors must become more proactive, offering anticipatory guidance to prevent and to encourage reporting of adolescent dating violence to trusted school personnel and health care providers.
“Finally, school counselors and pediatricians need to reach out to one another to form partnerships between counselors and providers to help augment their training on anticipatory guidance strategies and skill building in dealing with [adolescent school violence],” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts