Teen Dating Violence: Identifying Heterogeneity Using Person-Centered Approaches

 描述（由申请人提供）：理论和经验证据表明，在青少年约会暴力的发展过程中可能存在显着的异质性，这可能会限制一刀切的预防计划的有效性。例如，对于某些青少年亚群，约会暴力可能是一种系统性功能障碍模式的症状，这种功能障碍是终身持续的，而对于其他人来说，参与约会暴力可能是一个单一的问题，在青春期后期停止。干预战略如果能够针对这些不同亚群的需要，并针对风险最大的亚群，可能会更有效。然而，尽管有一个令人信服的理论和经验的理由来研究青少年约会暴力发展的异质性，很少有研究这样做。事实上，迄今为止，约会暴力行为主要是通过横断面研究进行调查的，其方法可能会掩盖发展过程中有意义的异质性。本申请通过从发展科学的角度检查约会暴力来解决文献中的这一差距，发展科学将对行为的背景和个体影响视为随着时间的推移而不可分割地联系在一起，使用一组非常适合于检查发展过程中的复杂相互作用和异质性的有影响力的方法，即以人为中心的分析方法（例如，潜在类别分析、增长混合建模）。以人为中心的方法可以用来识别在一个群体中彼此相似但与其他群体的成员不同的个体的不同子群体，就他们在整个变量集上的价值模式而言。这些模式可以表明哪些类型的青少年最有可能遭受约会暴力，或者需要特别的干预。为此，本研究的具体目的是采用以人为中心的方法：（1）识别具有不同风险/保护特征的中学生群体，并研究这些特征与未来约会暴力的关系;（2）根据青少年参与不同类型活动的模式，（peer，dating）and forms（生理、心理、性）的受害和犯罪行为，并研究随着时间的推移群体之间的转变;和（3）识别和定性表征身体，心理，以及8到12年级的性约会暴力犯罪。在所有目标中，将检查亚组结构和成员资格以及亚组成员资格和协变量之间关系的性别差异。研究目标将通过应用各种不同的以人为本的方法来实现（例如，潜在类别分析、联合增长混合建模）与来自两个多波研究的现有数据进行比较，从而能够跨数据源对发现进行交叉验证。根据拟议目标开展的工作预计将阐明青少年约会暴力的风险、共病和变化的不同模式。调查结果将告知我们对约会暴力的理论理解，并有助于确定可能受益于不同种类，剂量或干预水平的青年亚组。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Theory and empirical evidence suggest there may be significant heterogeneity in the developmental course of adolescent dating violence that could limit the effectiveness of one-size-fits-all prevention programs. For example, for some subgroups of adolescents, dating violence may be symptomatic of a systematic pattern of dysfunction that is life-course persistent, whereas for others involvement in dating violence may be a singular problem that desists during late adolescence. Intervention strategies may be more effective if they are tailored to meet the needs of these different subgroups and target those subgroups most at risk. Yet, despite a compelling theoretical and empirical rationale for examining heterogeneity in the development of teen dating violence, few studies have done so. In fact, to date, dating violence behavior has been investigated largely via cross-sectional studies with methods that may obscure meaningful heterogeneity in developmental processes. The present application addresses this gap in the literature by examining dating violence from a developmental science perspective, which views contextual and individual influences on behavior as being inextricably linked over time, using a set of influential methods that are well-suited for examining complex interactions and heterogeneity in developmental processes, namely, person-centered analytic approaches (e.g., latent class analysis, growth mixture modeling). Person-centered methods may be used to identify distinct subgroups of individuals who are similar to each other within a group, but differ from members of other groups, in terms of their pattern of values across an entire set of variables. These patterns can indicate which types of adolescents are at greatest risk for dating violence or are in need a particular intervention. To this end, the specific aims of the proposed study are to use person-centered approaches to: (1) identify subgroups of middle school adolescents with distinct risk/protective profiles and examine the relation of these profiles to future dating violence; (2) identify subgroups of adolescents based on their patterns of involvement in different types (peer, dating) and forms (physical, psychological, sexual) of victimization and perpetration behavior and examine transitions between groups over time; and (3) identify and characterize qualitatively distinct groups of developmental trajectories of physical, psychological, and sexual dating violence perpetration across grades 8 through 12. Across all aims sex differences in subgroup structure and membership and in relations between subgroup membership and covariates will be examined. Study aims will be accomplished by applying a variety of different person-centered methods (e.g., latent class analysis, conjoint growth mixture modeling) to extant data from two multi-wave studies, enabling cross-validation of findings across data sources. Work under the proposed aims is expected to illuminate heterogeneous patterns of risk, co-morbidity and change in adolescent dating violence. Findings will inform our theoretical understanding of dating violence and contribute to identify subgroups of youth that may benefit from different kinds, doses, or levels of intervention.