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，青少年约会暴力的发展过程可能存在显著的异质性，这可能会限制一刀切预防计划的有效性。例如，对于青少年的一些亚群来说，约会暴力可能是终生持续的系统性功能障碍模式的症状，而对另一些人来说，参与约会暴力可能是一个在青春期后期存在的单一问题。如果干预策略是为满足这些不同亚群的需求而量身定做的，并针对那些风险最高的亚群，那么干预战略可能会更有效。然而，尽管有令人信服的理论和经验理由来研究青少年约会暴力发展中的异质性，但很少有研究这样做。事实上，到目前为止，约会暴力行为主要是通过横断面研究进行的，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研究约会暴力来解决文献中的这一差距，该科学认为背景和个人对行为的影响随着时间的推移是密不可分的，使用了一套非常适合于研究发展过程中复杂的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，潜在阶级分析、成长混合建模)。可以使用以人为中心的方法来识别在组内彼此相似但不同于其他组的成员的不同的个体子组，这是根据他们在整个变量集上的值模式来实现的。这些模式可以指出哪些类型的青少年最有可能遭受约会暴力，或者需要特定的干预。为此，本研究的具体目的是使用以人为中心的方法：(1)识别具有不同风险/保护性特征的中学青少年亚群，并研究这些亚群与未来约会暴力的关系；(2)根据青少年参与不同类型(同伴、约会)和形式(身体、心理、性)的受害和实施行为的模式，识别青少年亚群，并考察群体之间的转变；以及(3)识别和定性描述8至12年级发生的身体、心理和性约会暴力行为的发展轨迹的不同群体。在所有目标中，将检查亚组结构和成员以及亚组成员和协变量之间的性别差异。研究目标将通过将各种不同的以人为中心的方法(例如，潜在类别分析、联合生长混合建模)应用于来自两个多波研究的现有数据来实现，从而实现跨数据源的交叉验证结果。根据拟议的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。这些发现将有助于我们从理论上理解约会暴力，并有助于确定可能受益于不同类型、剂量或水平的干预的青少年亚群。

 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.