Systematic Review Using a Novel Tool to Evaluate Adolescent Dating Violence Measurement in the Field Examining Its Link to Childhood Intimate Partner Violence Exposure

Background and Purpose: Millions of youth experience adolescent dating violence (ADV) each year in the United States, with some forms of ADV reported by up to73 percent of adolescents. Adolescent dating violence (ADV) perpetration is frequently reported at higher rates than victimization; however, the field of study examining the link between childhood exposure to IPV and ADV perpetration are inconsistent due in part to the field’s considerable variation in ADV measurement. To advance the field of ADV, there is a critical need to organize the scope of measurement approaches, identify the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, and identify strategic next steps. This systematic review aims to address this need.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify all studies examining the relation between childhood IPV exposure and ADV. Eleven bibliographic databases were searched for articles published through February 2024. After initial de-duplication and removal of citations that were not peer-reviewed or available in English or full-text, a total of 22,000 citations remained and were imported into Mendeley for screening by two doctoral-level researchers. To ensure the targeted field was being evaluated, only studies modeling children’s exposure to IPV as an independent variable and ADV as a dependent variable were included. Only studies with youth (ages 10-18) at baseline representing the majority (i.e., at least 75%) of the sample were included. Data extracted from the included articles consisted of sample age range, other sample characteristics (e.g., demographics), setting, study design, types of IPV exposure measured, ADV measurement tool used, scale characteristics for the specific study, psychometric properties of the measurement tool, and other variables considered. Using this data, each measure was assessed for strengths and limitations using an evaluation tool created for this study that includes 12 widely accepted aspects of measurement evaluation (e.g., reliability, validity, age-appropriate language). Each aspect was graded on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Poor to 4 = Excellent with possible scores ranging from 12 to 48.

Results: A total of 32 articles were included, with data from 24 unique datasets. Results indicate that approximately 54.2% of studies utilized the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI) to measure ADV, using varying subscales. The mean evaluation score for measurement approaches used across studies was 40.81. The primary limitations of measurement across the field were the variation in measurement tools making synthesis across studies difficult, a lack of ADV definition across several studies, poor operationalization of ADV, and inconsistencies in the measurement of intergenerational violence (IPV and ADV discrepancies).

Conclusions and Implications: This study is additive to the field by providing a thorough synthesis and evaluation of the existing ADV measurement approaches used specifically in the field of IPV exposure and ADV. Guided by the strengths and limitations of the existing measurement approaches, this study also provides recommendations for the field moving forward that could help to improve consistency and cross-study synthesis in the literature, including improved construct definition and consistent operationalization.