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As a persistent public health problem affecting thousands of adolescents every year, teen dating violence has been studied extensively. However, gaps remain in the knowledge on what adolescents think about seeking help for violence in a dating relationship and how these attitudes might change over time. This study adopts a longitudinal person-oriented approach to explore configurations of help-seeking preferences in a sample of rural adolescents (N at wave 1 = 580, M

Adolescents’ willingness to disclose violence in romantic relationships has important implications for their safety and overall well-being. However, research is limited on adolescent intentions to seek help for dating violence. Using self-report data from 493 rural youth (54% male, 49.7% African American), this study examined heterogeneity of adolescent help-seeking in relation to different forms of violence and sources of potential disclosure. Latent class analyses identified four distinct groups of adolescents: (a) Multi-help-seekers (20.5%) who are likely to seek help for any form of dating violence from multiple sources, (b) Reluctant help-seekers (21.1%) who are unlikely to seek help for any form of violence from any source, (c) Informal help-seekers (28.8%) who are willing to disclose dating violence primarily to caregivers and friends, and (d) Selective help-seekers (29.5%) with varied intentions to disclose some forms of violence to select people. Results further revealed that class membership was differentially related to gender and caregiver’s level of education. Additionally, findings confirmed expectations that variation in adolescent well-being and safety measures was a function of membership in help-seeking classes. The article discusses these findings in the context of targeted programs and services to promote help-seeking among rural youth.

Although neighborhood context is a well-recognized factor in the well-being of children and families, little systematic research exists to guide inquiries into the intersection of neighborhood social processes and child and family well-being. Moreover, despite the increased popularity of neighborhood effects research over the last several decades, crucial questions around the debate on how to align research findings with tangible experiences for children and families remain open. This article reviews selected studies that linked neighborhood factors to specific domains of child and family well-being: parenting, safety, health, and educational outcomes. By focusing on neighborliness, a particular form of neighboring, the study aims to shift the focus from macrolevel indicators of neighborhood context, to a more dynamic set of attributes that characterize neighborhood life, with the hope of inspiring others to build upon the findings and begin to translate the conclusions to meaningful policies and programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

There is a need to identify meaningful measures of the right to participate that embrace both heterogeneity among children and the diverse contexts in which participation is realized. To date, the literature that combines contextual and personal variation in participation is limited. Using a person-oriented approach, this study explored heterogeneity among children in relation to their perception of participation in four domains – home, school, local community and the country. The data came from a representative sample of 10- and 12-year old students (N = 2339) in schools in Albania who participated in the 3rd wave of the International Survey of Children’s Well-being. Latent profile analyses identified four groups of students, based on their participatory preferences along two dimensions of participation - perceived decision-making and respect. Two overall patterns emerged: (a) students whose endorsement of participation was consistent across all domains but varied in intensity (high level of endorsement vs. moderate) and (b) students whose endorsement of participation varied both across domains and levels of intensity (low vs. moderate vs. high). As expected, profiles defined by greater participation differed on a number of demographic characteristics (e.g., higher proportion of girls, greater proportion of students from families with higher socio-economic status). However, contrary to expectations, many profiles were not consistently related to children’s subjective well-being or satisfaction with life domains. The importance of these findings for targeted initiatives to promote participation among children in transitioning states is discussed.

Multi-informant assessment of family functioning is considered best practice in research and clinical settings. However, in the area of teen dating violence, multi-informant assessment of family functioning has received limited attention. The current study investigated whether and to what extent caregiver and adolescent perceptions of family functioning interact in their influence on adolescent dating violence. Participants were 493 adolescents and their primary caregivers from a rural southeastern community in the United States. As hypothesized, a paired-samples t test showed that adolescents' scores on the family functioning measure were significantly lower than their caregivers' scores. Logistic regressions revealed that adolescents' positive views of family functioning were significantly associated with a lower likelihood of dating violence victimization but not perpetration and that caregivers' views on family functioning moderated the impact of adolescent-reported family functioning on both dating violence outcomes. Post hoc analyses showed that adolescents with negative perceptions of family environment were most likely to be victims and perpetrators of dating violence when their parents also reported more negative views of family environment. The article concludes with a discussion of how these findings can: (a) advance our understanding of the impact of family functioning on teen dating relationships and (b) inform practical efforts aimed at preventing dating aggression among teens.La evaluación multiinformante del funcionamiento familiar se considera una práctica adecuada en la investigación y en los entornos clínicos. Sin embargo, en el área de la violencia de parejas adolescentes, la evaluación multiinformante del funcionamiento familiar ha recibido escasa atención. En el presente estudio se investigó si y hasta qué punto las percepciones que tienen los cuidadores y los adolescentes del funcionamiento familiar interactúan en su influencia en la violencia de parejas adolescentes. Los participantes fueron 493 adolescentes y sus principales cuidadores de una comunidad rural del sureste de los Estados Unidos. Como se hipotetizó, una prueba de T para muestras apareadas demostró que los puntajes de los adolescentes en la medida del funcionamiento familiar fueron considerablemente más bajos que los puntajes de sus cuidadores. Las regresiones logísticas revelaron que las perspectivas positivas de los adolescentes con respecto al funcionamiento familiar estuvieron asociadas considerablemente con una menor probabilidad de victimización por violencia en la pareja pero no de perpetración, y que las perspectivas de los cuidadores con respecto al funcionamiento familiar moderaron el efecto del funcionamiento familiar informado por los adolescentes en ambos resultados de la violencia de pareja. Los análisis retrospectivos demostraron que los adolescentes con percepciones negativas del entorno familiar fueron más propensos a ser víctimas y perpetradores de violencia en la pareja cuando sus padres también informaron perspectivas más negativas del entorno familiar. El artículo finaliza con un debate de cómo estos hallazgos pueden: (a) promover nuestra comprensión del efecto del funcionamiento familiar en las relaciones de parejas adolescentes y (b) respaldar efectos prácticos orientados a prevenir la agresión en las parejas de adolescentes.在作研究时和临床情境下使用多方人员对家庭功能的评估被视作是最好的做法。 然而在对青少年约会暴力研究的相关领域,这种做法得到的关注还非常有限。本研究调查的就是看护人和青少年对家庭功能的看法是否且在多大程度上能和青少年约会暴力发生交互性关联作用。参与者有493名,他们来自美国东南一个农村社区的青少年和及其主要看护人。和设想的一致,成对样本t测试结果显示青少年和其看护人同时对所在家庭功能评分时,青少年给出的评分要严重低于看护人的评分。逻辑回归显示青少年对家庭功能持积极正面的看法和在约会时被侵犯之间的较小可能性是大大相关的,但和约会暴力对他者侵害的可能性并不是严重相关。看护人对家庭功能的看法缓解了青少年报告的家庭功能对两种约会暴力结果的影响。事后分析表明,当家长也同时报告家庭环境不好时,对家庭环境持消极负面看法的青少年更有可能成为约会暴力的被侵害者和作恶者。本文在结论部分讨论了本研究的发现可以 (a)增进对家庭功能之于青少年约会关系的作用的了解;(b)对如何在实践中努力防止青少年约会时作出的侵犯行为提供一些参考信息。.

Research is mixed on the current state of democratic consolidation in transitioning states and whether young people are prepared to help sustain a culture of democracy. This study draws on the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competencies for Democratic Culture and the framework of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study to explore patterns of democratic orientation among adolescents in Albania and Belarus (N = 711). Latent profile analyses identified five groups of democratically oriented adolescents in both states: (a) All-around citizens, (b) Idealistic and Disengaged, (c) Duty-oriented, (d) Diversity Enthusiasts and (e) Alienated. Results further revealed that profiles were unevenly distributed between the two countries and that profile membership was differentially related to adolescents’ perceptions of school climate and their intentions to participate in civic and political life. The article concludes with a discussion of how consideration of heterogeneity within democratically-competent youth can inform efforts to promote a culture of democracy in transitioning societies.

Research is inconclusive about the trajectory of dating violence during adolescence and whether there are differences across gender and race/ethnicity. We examined dating victimization and perpetration trajectories among a diverse sample of rural youth (N = 580, 52.7% female, 49% Black, 39% White, 11% Hispanic or other minorities) in middle and high school who were surveyed annually across four years and explored the influences of gender and ethnicity. The results based on cohort-sequential latent growth modeling revealed that for boys, victimization peaked at 11th grade, and then declined. For girls, victimization was stable throughout adolescence. Perpetration was reported less frequently and increased steadily for males and females. For White youth, victimization peaked at grades 9 and 10, followed by a decline. For Black youth, victimization followed a linear increase. Perpetration trajectory followed a linear increase for White and Black but not Hispanic youth. The findings indicate that the developmental progression of dating violence during adolescence varies by demographics. The discussion focuses on future directions for research on teen dating violence among rural youth and implications for prevention and interventions initiatives.

Family functioning is a key construct in research and practice involving children and youth. Given that multi-informant assessment of this construct is considered a best practice in research and clinical settings, ensuring measurement invariance of family functioning instruments is an important consideration for family science scholars and practitioners who increasingly use multiple groups or longitudinal designs in investigating family dynamics. Yet, studies involving family functioning provide limited reports of psychometric properties of key or contextual measures. This study used multigroup confirmatory factor analyses to examine measurement invariance of a short version of the McMaster Family Assessment device using data from caregivers (N = 479) and adolescents (N = 571) collected at two periods four years apart. Results revealed that configural and metric invariance of a short version of the family functioning measure hold both across groups (caregivers and adolescents) and time, thus providing the foundation for using this instrument to assess family functioning with different populations and at different time periods. However, evidence of only partial scalar invariance indicated that group comparisons might be biased. The article concludes with implications for family science scholars and practitioners, including caution in using mean scores to compare perceptions of family functioning across different populations, such as caregivers and adolescents.

Structural equation modeling with three waves of data was used to assess a mediation model investigating the relationship between perceived social support, informal help-seeking intentions, and professional help-seeking intentions in the context of adolescent dating violence. The sample included 589 adolescents from a rural, southern county who participated in a longitudinal study of teen dating violence victimization and perpetration. Results suggest that informal help-seeking intentions are an important link between perceived social support and professional help-seeking intentions. Findings highlight the importance of informal help-seeking and informal help-giving in fostering professional help-seeking for adolescent victims and perpetrators of dating violence.