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High School Follow-Up of the Dating Matters® RCT: Effects on Teen Dating Violence and Relationship Behaviors

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Abstract

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a significant public health problem that can have lifelong consequences. Using a longitudinal, cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), this study examines whether the Dating Matters comprehensive prevention model, implemented in middle school, prevented TDV and negative relationship behaviors and promoted positive relationship behaviors in high school (9th–11th grades), when compared with a standard of care intervention. Dating Matters includes programs for sixth to eighth grade youth and their parents, training for school staff, a youth communications program, and policy and data activities implemented in the community. Self-report survey data were collected from students in 46 middle schools that were randomly assigned to condition within site. Students completed two surveys (fall and spring) in each middle school grade and a single survey in the spring of each high school grade. This study examined self-reported TDV perpetration and victimization, use of negative conflict resolution strategies, and positive relationship skills in the high school follow-up. While varying patterns emerged, latent panel models demonstrated significant program effects for all outcomes. Dating Matters students reported 19% reduced risk for TDV perpetration, 24% reduced risk for TDV victimization, 7% reduced risk for use of negative conflict strategies, and 3% more use of positive relationship skills, on average across time and cohort, than standard of care students. On average, Dating Matters, implemented in middle school, continued to be more effective at reducing TDV perpetration, TDV victimization, and use of negative conflict resolution strategies in high school than an evidence-based comparison program.

Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01672541.

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Notes

  1. See Niolon et al. (2019) for more details on the model components and background. Dating Matters is available at https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/dating-matters-toolkit.

  2. Number of days between the student’s birthdate and November 22 of each student’s Grade 6 year. This can be interpreted as the student’s age, relative to his/her grade mates, regardless of cohort.

  3. Model fit was poor when a chi-square difference test against a model with freely estimated means resulted in a p value of less than .20.

  4. Due to equality constraints on parameters, effect sizes across cohort or sex can be identical. When one RRR is provided for two significant effects, those estimates were identical.

  5. The use of positive relationship skills in a dating relationship was reverse coded for analysis so effects are consistently interpreted as reduction in risk.

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Funding

Funding for the entire initiative was provided by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA30341, S106-10, USA

    Phyllis Holditch Niolon, Lianne F. Estefan, Sarah DeGue, Vi D. Le & Colleen Ray

  2. TJFACT Inc, Contractor for the Division of Violence Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Allison J. Tracy

  3. College of Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Daniel Bontempo & Todd D. Little

  4. North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

    Todd D. Little

  5. Division of Overdose Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Alana M. Vivolo-Kantor

  6. Harvard, Massachusetts, MA, USA

    Natasha Latzman

  7. NORC, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Bruce Taylor

  8. Sexual Assault Prevention and Research Office, Department of Defense, Washington, DC, USA

    Andra Tharp

Authors
  1. Phyllis Holditch Niolon
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  2. Lianne F. Estefan
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  3. Sarah DeGue
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  4. Vi D. Le
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  5. Allison J. Tracy
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  7. Daniel Bontempo
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  8. Todd D. Little
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  9. Alana M. Vivolo-Kantor
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  10. Natasha Latzman
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  11. Bruce Taylor
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  12. Andra Tharp
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Contributions

Roles in each of the following categories is listed below: Design and conduct of the study: Scientists from the funding organization (PHN, LFE, SD, AMV-K, NL, AT) and its contractors (BT) were responsible for the design and conduct of the study. Collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data: Scientists from the funding organization (all CDC authors) were involved in all aspects. Contractors of the funding organization (AJT, TDL, DB, BT) were involved in one or more aspects of data collection, management, analysis and interpretation. Preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript: Scientists from the funding organization (all CDC authors) and its contractors (all other authors) were involved in the preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript. Additionally, clearance officials from the National Center for Injury Prevention and control have approved the manuscript for preparation. Decision to submit the manuscript for publication: Scientists from the funding organization (all CDC authors) and its contractors (all other authors) were involved in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication, with the support of leadership from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Phyllis Holditch Niolon.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

Procedures and materials were approved by multiple IRBs, including the CDC’s (Protocol # 6161), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB #0920–0941). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

The study used active parental consent in three sites and passive parental permission in one site for study participation and youth completed informed assent before participating in the surveys.

Conflict of Interest

None of the authors have conflicts of interest or financial disclosures. All CDC authors worked for the funding organization during the majority of their participation on the project. Dr. Taylor was funded by CDC through a contract to assist with research design and collect all data (Contract #200-211-40998. Statisticians were funded through a staffing contract (Tracy) and IPAs (Little, Bontempo).

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The findings and conclusions of this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Dr. Andra Tharp is now at the U.S. Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office. We are deeply saddened to note that Dr. Daniel Bontempo passed away during the final preparation of this manuscript for publication. He was an amazing colleague and friend to the Dating Matters team, and his deep statistical expertise, dry sense of humor, kindness, and collegial spirit will be sorely missed.

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Niolon, P.H., Estefan, L.F., DeGue, S. et al. High School Follow-Up of the Dating Matters® RCT: Effects on Teen Dating Violence and Relationship Behaviors. Prev Sci (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-024-01648-z

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