The lead evaluator for this program is Shari Miller, PhD, MA, of Research Triangle Institute (RTI).
Program Being Evaluated
Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships is the largest initiative ever funded targeting 11- to 14-year-old youth to promote healthy relationships as the way to prevent teen dating violence and abuse. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Blue Shield of California Foundation are investing $18 million in 11 communities across the country to identify and evaluate the most promising pathways to stop dating violence before it starts. Start Strong creates unique learning communities comprised of health centers, community and domestic violence organizations, youth programs, middle schools and high schools who create innovative prevention models that can be replicated across the country. Each community has developed a comprehensive plan that focuses on four core strategies involving in-class curriculum, policy change, work with mentors and communications strategies to empower youth to develop healthy relationships.
About the Evaluation
The Start Strong evaluation looks in-depth at the dating relationships of middle school students. Although it is not nationally representative, the study sample includes more than 1,400 students in 7th grade from diverse geographical locations. The study collected data on teen dating violence behaviors, as well as risk factors linked to dating violence, such as gender stereotypes, sexual harassment and the acceptance of teen dating violence. The baseline data provide important insights into teen dating violence behaviors and risk factors among middle school students.
The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the overall impact of the Start Strong initiative by measuring differences in dating violence behaviors and risk factors between students at the Start Strong intervention schools and the comparison schools. The evaluation is a longitudinal, quasi-experimental study in which data are collected from the same students at multiple time periods.
Summary of Methods
Data for the baseline sample comes from 1,430 students in 7th grade at eight schools—four Start Strong intervention schools and four comparison schools. The baseline data were collected in fall 2010. The mean age of participants at baseline was 12 years old, and the average student participation rate was 57 percent. In one class period in fall 2010, paper-and-pencil questionnaires were used to collect data.
Key Findings:
Many of the 7th-graders in this sample are dating and experiencing dating violence.
- 75% of students surveyed report ever having a boyfriend or girlfriend.
- More than 1 in 3 (37%) students surveyed report being a victim of psychological dating violence in the last 6 months.
- Nearly 1 in 6 (15%) students surveyed report being a victim of physical dating violence in the last 6 months.
- Nearly 1 in 3 (31%) students surveyed report being a victim of electronic dating aggression in the last 6 months.
Teen dating violence is not happening behind closed doors.
- More than 1 in 3 (37%) of students surveyed report having witnessed boys or girls being physically violent to persons they were dating in the last 6 months.
Attitudes and behaviors that are associated with increased risk for teen dating violence and abuse are pervasive.
- Nearly 2 out of 3 students surveyed (63%) strongly agree with a harmful gender stereotype, such as “girls are always trying to get boys to do what they want them to do,” or “with boyfriends and girlfriends, the boy should be smarter than the girl.”
- Sexually harassing behaviors occur frequently in middle school. Nearly half of students surveyed (49%) report having been a victim of sexual harassment in the past 6 months, such as being “touched, grabbed, or pinched in a sexual way,” or that someone ”made sexual jokes” about them.
Parents have an important role to play in preventing teen dating violence and abuse.
- Nearly three-quarters of 7th-grade students surveyed report that, in the last 6 months, they “sometimes or often” talk with their parents about dating topics such as, “how to tell if someone might like you as a boyfriend or girlfriend.”
- Middle school is a key time for parents to educate themselves about these issues so they can help their children navigate new relationships (both online and offline), including what is acceptable and what is not.