Early Invalidating Environments Predict Adolescent Dating Violence

Abstract

Violence in adolescent dating relationships is a common and serious public health problem that involves a growing number of youth and adolescents worldwide. Over one in three Canadian youth have experienced or perpetrated adolescent dating violence in the past 12 months (Exner Cortens et al., 2021). Prior research on teen dating violence has documented the scope and seriousness of this problem, with a consensus that violence within the context of intimate relationships is emotionally and physically costly to youth. This invalidating environment, combined with others such as childhood maltreatment and peer rejection, can further make youth more vulnerable across different social contexts, with rejection sensitivity being a potential moderator. The associations between childhood maltreatment, peer rejection, rejection sensitivity, and dating violence were examined in adolescent dating relationships in a community sample of 331 Canadian adolescents. Using mediation-moderation models, results indicated that there was a direct effect from childhood maltreatment to adolescent dating violence victimization and an indirect effect from childhood maltreatment to adolescent dating violence victimization when accounting for peer rejection. In terms of dating violence perpetration, there was a statistically significant indirect effect when accounting for peer rejection, suggesting that peer rejection fully mediated the relation between childhood maltreatment and adolescent dating violence perpetration. Rejection sensitivity did not moderate these associations. This study is an important step in exploring the interrelated risk factors associated with violence in adolescent relationships that can be used to identify areas for targeted preventative measures for this overlooked and understudied phenomenon in young Canadians.