Preliminary Findings from an Outcome Evaluation of an Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Program for Adjudicated, African American, Adolescent Males

Abstract

This study evaluated the efficacy of a five-session intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention program for adjudicated African American male adolescents. The program was guided by feminist theory and was culturally focused and gender specific. An experimental design was used to assess changes in knowledge of IPV and patriarchal attitudes at posttest and to test for the moderating effects of committing IPV and witnessing parental IPV. Results indicated higher levels of knowledge and less patriarchal attitudes among the intervention group as compared to the control group. Committing violence was not a significant moderator of intervention effectiveness; a witnessing parental violence by group interaction revealed that adolescents in the intervention group had significantly lower patriarchal attitudes compared with adolescents in the control group, but only for those who witnessed high levels of parental male-to-female violence.