Abstract
Teen dating violence is a serious problem and intervention programs aimed at reducing this violence and helping adolescents to develop healthier romantic relationships are needed. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of the DARSI program on the development of a more adequate perception of love, the reduction of tolerance toward abuse in romantic relationships, and the reduction of the perpetration of dating violence in adolescents. The sample consisted of 129 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years (M = 14.05, SD = 1.08). A repeated measures (pre-test and post-test) quasi-experimental design with an intervention group and a control group was used to assess the effects of the program. The results showed significant decreases in unhealthy perceptions of love (linking love with control and dependence), tolerance toward abuse in romantic relationships, and dating violence perpetration in the intervention group. Healthier perceptions of love (linking love with respect and communication) were observed in the intervention group after the implementation of this program. These findings support the implementation in educational contexts of programs focused on the development of non-violent and healthy romantic relationships in adolescents.
Highlights
The first romantic relationships are significant life experiences for adolescents, with a great influence on their psychosocial and affective development [1,2,3,4]
Taking into account the importance of implementing intervention programs focused on preventing teen dating violence and helping adolescents build healthy romantic relationships [35], this study aimed to assess the effects of the DARSI program on several variables linked to these purposes
Three classrooms of one of these two schools (n = 57) were assigned to the intervention group, and the other three classrooms of the other school (n = 72) were assigned to the control group. Both secondary schools were in the same city, and they were similar in the sociodemographic characteristics of their students. Both schools were informed that the classrooms participating in the program as control and intervention groups could not participate in other intervention programs during the implementation of the DARSI program
Summary
The first romantic relationships are significant life experiences for adolescents, with a great influence on their psychosocial and affective development [1,2,3,4]. The prevalence of physical dating violence, while lower, remains worrying [11] In their meta-analytic review, Wincentak et al [12] analyzed a total of 101 studies that had been conducted with adolescents aged 13–18 years and reported an overall prevalence of physical dating violence perpetration of 20%. This violence can have serious negative consequences for adolescents [6,9,13,14]. Dating violence in adolescence is a strong predictor of subsequent dating violence in youth and adulthood [17,18,19]
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