Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Language

English

Publication Date

10-3-2025

Journal

BMC Public Health

PMID

10.1186/s12889-025-24549-4

PMCID

41044720

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

10-3-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

Background: Adolescent dating violence (DV) perpetration is a significant public health issue affecting millions of adolescents in the United States. Adverse childhood experiences such as household dysfunction (HD) have been exhibited to be risk factors for DV perpetration during adolescence and adulthood. Furthermore, the literature is scant regarding how positive parent-child relationships can mitigate these risk factors and decrease HD-related consequences among sixth-grade adolescents. Thus, our study examined the moderating effects of parental monitoring and closeness regarding the association between HD and DV perpetration among middle schoolers in Southeast Texas.

Methods: In our cross-sectional study, we used the baseline data from a DV prevention intervention program for sixth graders aged 11–14 years (N = 101), Me & You Tech. We conducted adjusted multivariable regression models to examine the link between HD and DV perpetration, along with the moderating effects of parental monitoring and closeness.

Results: The multivariable logistic regression results regarding the association between lifetime DV perpetration, HD, parental monitoring, parental closeness, and covariates demonstrated a significant association between HD and lifetime DV perpetration (AOR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.83); however, the moderators did not exhibit significant effects.

Conclusions: Our study highlights how early exposure to HD can lead to violent behaviors. Future research should investigate parental protective factors to enhance early prevention of HD-related consequences such as DV perpetration.

Trial number: NCT05225727.

Trial registration date: January 24, 2022.

Trial registration: https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05225727.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-24549-4.

Keywords

Adolescents, Dating violence, Household dysfunction, Parental closeness, Parental monitoring

Published Open-Access

yes

Included in

Public Health Commons

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