The Mediating Role of Physical Activity and Sleep in the Relationship between Teen Dating Violence and Academic Performance

Background and Purpose: TDV is a significant social problem which disrupts academic achievement of teens. Studies find that teens who experience TDV victimization are predisposed to negative health outcomes such as less or excessive physical activity, and sleep problems, and academic difficulty. Most teens who report TDV victimization are likely to be older, female, ethnic minority, and report engaging in sexual risk behaviors. Though studies show that TDV experience may lead to academic difficulty, little is known about the indirect effect of physical activity and sleep in the relationship between TDV victimization and academic performance. This study explores whether age, gender, ethnicity, and sexual risk predict TDV, and the mediating effect of physical activity and sleep on the relationship between TDV victimization and academic performance.

Methods: This study used nationally representative data, the YRBSS-2017 administered to 8th-12th-grade students. The final sample consisted of 14,765 students, 48.6% males and 51.4% females, aged 12-18 years old. Majority were White (43.4%), Others (26.5%), Blacks (19.4 0%), and Hispanics (10.7%). Students were asked about experiencing TDV victimization, engagement in sexual risk behaviors, physical activity, hours of sleep on school nights, and school grades in the past year. Correlations analyses were conducted to explore the data and multicollinearity. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between demographic factors and TDV victimization. Hayes’ SPSS process macro 3.3 was used to understand the mediating effect of physical activity and sleep on the relationship between TDV and school grades while controlling for demographic characteristics. 

 Results: Correlations showed a significant negative correlation between TDV and school grades (r=-.018, p<.05), physical activity (r=-.022, p= .01), and sleep (r=-.032, p<.01). Logistic regression indicated that, age (OR =.844, p <.001), gender (female) (OR) =1.218, p <.001), ethnicity (Hispanic) (OR) =.864, p <.05), and sexual risk behaviors (OR) =1.853, p <.001) are significant predictors of TDV victimization. Parallel mediation analysis showed that experiencing TDV negatively related to school grades (β = -.063, p < .05). Second, TDV victimization was negatively associated with physical activity, and sleep. Third, when considering physical activity and sleep in the model, there were significant mediation effects of physical activity (b = -.019, MC CIs intervals= -.036; -.003), and sleep (b = -.035, MC CIs = -.052; -.017) on the relationship between experiencing TDV victimization and school grades. The results imply that there is an indirect relationship between TDV and school grades through physical activity and sleep.

Conclusions and Implications: The significant relationships among TDV, physical activity, sleep, and school grades suggest that social workers and educators need to consider these health behaviors in understanding and intervening with adolescents in academic and social service settings. Problem behaviors in one area are likely to be associated with problem behaviors in other areas. When working with teens who have experienced TDV, social workers should assess for multiple health-related behaviors that may have an impact on their academic performance. Greater understanding of how TDV can differently impact diverse youth populations can lead to more targeted prevention and intervention programming.