Open AccessAdolescent Dating Violence Prevention Program for Early Adolescents: The Me & You Randomized Controlled Trial, 2014–2015
Author(s) -
Melissa F. Peskin,
Christine Markham,
Ross Shegog,
Elizabeth Baumler,
Robert C. Addy,
Jeff R. Temple,
Belinda Hernandez,
Paula Cuccaro,
Melanie Thiel,
Efrat K. Gabay,
Susan R. Tortolero Emery
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2019.305218
Subject(s) - confidence interval , odds ratio , psychosocial , randomized controlled trial , poison control , ethnic group , demography , multilevel model , odds , medicine , injury prevention , suicide prevention , clinical psychology , psychology , logistic regression , environmental health , psychiatry , statistics , sociology , anthropology , mathematics
Objectives. To test the efficacy of Me & You, a multilevel technology-enhanced adolescent dating violence (DV) intervention, in reducing DV perpetration and victimization among ethnic-minority early adolescent youths. We assessed secondary impact for specific DV types and psychosocial outcomes. Methods. We conducted a group-randomized controlled trial of 10 middle schools from a large urban school district in Southeast Texas in 2014 to 2015. We used multilevel regression modeling; the final analytic sample comprised 709 sixth-grade students followed for 1 year. Results. Among the total sample, odds of DV perpetration were lower among intervention students than among control students (adjusted odds ratio = 0.46; 95% confidence interval = 0.28, 0.74). Odds of DV victimization were not significantly different. There were significant effects on some specific DV types. Conclusions. Me & You is effective in reducing DV perpetration and decreasing some forms of DV victimization in early middle-school ethnic-minority students.