The Rate of Cyber Dating Abuse among Teens and How It Relates to Other Forms of Teen Dating Violence

1 The Rate of Cyber Dating Abuse among Teens and How It Relates to Other Forms of Teen Dating Violence Janine M. Zweig* Meredith Dank Jennifer Yahner Pamela Lachman Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center Published: Journal of Youth and Adolescence http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-013-9922-8 *Corresponding author: e-mail: jzweig@urban.org; phone: 518-791-1058 This project was supported by Award No. 2010-WG-BX-003, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions and recommendations expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice, or of the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Elements of this paper were reported to the National Institute of Justice in the form of a final technical report as per grant obligations. The authors would like to thank: (1) the administrators, faculty, and staff of schools who assisted us in collecting the data documented in this report, (2) CJ Pascoe of Colorado College and Cindy Southworth, Erica Olsen, and Sarah Tucker of the National Network to End Domestic Violence for their input on survey measures, and (3) the National Institute of Justice and Dr. Nancy La Vigne, Director of the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center, for their careful review of project findings. 2 3 Abstract To date, little research has documented how teens might misuse technology to harass, control, and abuse their dating partners. This study examined the extent of cyber dating abuse—abuse via technology and new media—in youth relationships and how it relates to other forms of teen dating violence. A total of 5,647 youth from ten schools in three northeastern states participated in the survey, of which 3,745 reported currently being in a dating relationship or having been in one during the prior year (52 percent were female; 74 percent White). Just over a quarter of youth in a current or recent relationship said that they experienced some form of cyber dating abuse victimization in the prior year, with females reporting more cyber dating abuse victimization than males (particularly sexual cyber dating abuse). One out of ten youth said that they had perpetrated cyber dating abuse, with females reporting greater levels of non-sexual cyber dating abuse perpetration than males; by contrast, male youth were significantly more likely to report perpetrating sexual cyber dating abuse. Victims of sexual cyber dating abuse were seven times more likely to have also experienced sexual coercion (55 percent vs. 8 percent) than were non-victims, and perpetrators of sexual cyber dating abuse were 17 times more likely to have also perpetrated sexual coercion (34 percent vs. 2 percent) than were non-perpetrators. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. Keywords: 4 to 6 keywords: teen dating violence, cyber dating abuse, victimization, perpetration 4 Introduction The term “teen dating violence” encompasses varying levels and types of abuse that can range from physical and sexual violence to forms of psychological and emotional abuse occurring between teens who are in dating/romantic relationships with one another (Mulford and Giordano, 2008). Recent advancements in technology (e.g., social networking, texting on a cellular phone) have created new ways for people to relate to one another socially, and new tools for those involved in dating violence to harass, control, and abuse their partners. Despite growth in the adolescent dating violence and abuse literature over the past two decades, critical questions remain unanswered as to the role of new technologies in these experiences for victims and perpetrators. The goal of this article is to expand knowledge about the extent of youth victimization and perpetration via technology and new media within dating relationships and to understand how this type of cyber dating abuse might relate to other forms of teen dating violence, such as psychological abuse, physical violence, and sexual coercion. Youths’ daily activities and social worlds revolve around new media practices such as using cell phones, engaging in instant messaging, watching and creating online videos, and connecting to social networking websites (Rideout, Roberts, and Foehr, 2005). Based on data from a nationally representative sample of 799 youth, most youth ages 12-17 have cell phones (77 percent; Lenhart, 2012) and 95 percent of youth ages 12-17 are online (Lenhart, Madden, Smith, Purcell, Zickurh, and Rainie, 2011). In addition, wireless access impacts teens’ Internet use, since more than 25 percent o f teens report using their cell phone to go online (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, and Zickuhr, 2010). Social networking is key to teen’s media use: 80 percent of youth ages 12-17 report using social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace) and many report using such sites da