Do MSW Programs Include Content on Adolescent Dating Violence?

Background and Purpose: Approximately 10% of high-school adolescents report physical assault by a dating partner and approximately 50% report emotional/psychological abuse. Victims of adolescent dating violence (ADV) have higher levels of depression, eating disorders, drug abuse, and suicidal ideation than those with no ADV. Further, victimization during the teen years is predictive of later intimate partner violence (IPV). Social workers serve youth in a wide variety of settings, underscoring the importance that they need to be well equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to address ADV.

 Although some MSW students may learn about ADV in elective IPV and domestic violence (DV) courses, many programs do not offer specific courses on IPV or DV. Studies suggest that less than half of MSW students have coursework that addresses DV and/or IPV. Additionally, ADV differs from adult IPV, and thus, students need to specifically learn about ADV, in addition to, IPV. We do not know how much students may learn about ADV in specialized IPV/DV classes or in foundation level policy, practice and HBSE courses. Although some textbooks on domestic violence often include a chapter on ADV, we do not know if content on ADV is covered in foundation policy, HBSE or practice textbooks. Therefore, the current study assessed the content MSW students receive on ADV during their programs of study. 

Methods: We examined the websites of all accredited MSW programs identified by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) for courses addressing family violence, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, inter-relational conflict, marital conflict, etc. We identified 61 social work schools/programs offering a course. We examined 42 syllabi for content on ADV from programs that offered a specialized course on family violence and/or IPV/Domestic Violence content. When syllabi were not available online, we contacted the schools and requested the syllabus. We also examined foundational HBSE, practice and policy textbooks to determine the content included on ADV.

 Findings: Sixty percent of the course syllabi specifically addressing IPV/DV also addressed ADV in some form. Content coverage varied considerably. Some courses briefly mentioned ADV as a precursor to DV. Other courses required several readings and assignments specifically addressing ADV. Analyses of three prominent textbooks used in foundation policy, HBSE, and practice classes for ADV content found: (1) only one policy textbook mentioned ADV and ADV was discussed in relation to the Violence Against Women Act; (2) all three human behavior and social environment textbooks that covered  the life span, included content on IPV but only one included content on ADV; and, (3) all practice texts included IPV content but only one also had ADV content.

Conclusion and Implications: Findings from the study suggest that MSW students receive little content on ADV while in their MSW program. Social workers often work with youth and provide preventative interventions. Social work programs need to provide additional content and research on specific interventions and prevention programming to address ADV relationships.