Adolescent help-seeking for dating violence: prevalence, sociodemographic correlates, and sources of help

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of help-seeking and helping sources used by adolescent victims and perpetrators of dating violence.

Methods: Data are from the victims (n = 225) and perpetrators (n = 140) of dating violence identified from a longitudinal study of adolescent dating violence conducted in the public school system of a primarily rural North Carolina county. Logistic regression was used to examine bivariate and multivariate relationships between study variables and help-seeking or sources of help.

Results: Sixty percent of victims and 79% of perpetrators did not seek help for dating violence. Male perpetrators were more likely to seek help than female perpetrators. The odds of seeking help increased with perpetrators' age (OR = 1.79 per year; 95% CI = 1.05, 5.76). Most victims and perpetrators who sought help chose friends and family members rather than professionals. Male victims and perpetrators who sought help were more likely than female victims and perpetrators to choose professional sources of help.

Conclusions: Most adolescent dating violence victims and perpetrators do not seek help. Male perpetrators and older perpetrators were more likely to seek help than female perpetrators or younger perpetrators. Friends and family members are more common sources for help-seeking than professionals, but males were more likely to seek help from professionals than females.