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True Love: Effectiveness of a School-Based Program to Reduce Dating Violence Among Adolescents in Mexico City

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Abstract

Dating violence is a significant problem in Mexico. National survey data estimated 76 % of Mexican youth have been victims of psychological aggression in their relationships; 15.5 % have experienced physical violence; and 16.5 % of women have been the victims of sexual violence. Female adolescents perpetrate physical violence more frequently than males, while perpetration between genders of other types of violence is unclear. Furthermore, poor, marginalized youth are at a higher risk for experiencing dating violence. “Amor… pero del Bueno” (True Love) was piloted in two urban, low-income high schools in Mexico City to prevent dating violence. The intervention consisted of school-level and individual-level components delivered over 16 weeks covering topics on gender roles, dating violence, sexual rights, and strategies for coping with dating violence. The short-term impact was assessed quasi-experimentally, using matching techniques and fixed-effects models. A sample of 885 students (381 students exposed to the classroom-based curriculum of the individual-level component (SCC, IL-1) and 540 exposed only to the school climate component (SCC)) was evaluated for the following: changes in dating violence behaviors (psychological, physical and sexual), beliefs related to gender norms, knowledge, and skills for preventing dating violence. We found a 58 % (p < 0.05) and 55 % (p < 0.05) reduction in the prevalence of perpetrated and experienced psychological violence, respectively, among SCC, IL-1 males compared to males exposed only to the SCC component. We also found a significant reduction in beliefs and attitudes justifying sexism and violence in dating relationships among SCC, IL-1 females (6 %; p < 0.05) and males (7 %; p < 0.05).

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Notes

  1. Further examples include the following: Avery-Leaf et al. 1997; Font-Calafell 2006; Jaycox et al. 2006; Krajewski et al. 1996; Pacifici et al. 2001; Wolfe et al. 2003.

  2. http://www.albanta.org.mx/

  3. We found baseline differences between students who only responded to the baseline survey and those with baseline and follow-up measurements: a greater proportion of students with only baseline data reported that they had already worked, had begun their sexual life, had lower school grades and were older. By contrast, a larger proportion of the students with both measurements reported that they were full-time students.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the staff at the Colegio de Bachilleres system whose enthusiastic collaboration in all phases of the project made this work possible. In particular, we want to thank Dr. Sylvya B. Ortega Salazar for her leadership and support. We also want to acknowledge staff at ALBANTA for their support with implementing the evaluation, particularly Silvia Conde and Gabriela Conde.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Economics and Health Systems Innovations Division, Center for Health Systems Research, National Institute of Public Health Mexico, Universidad 655 Santa María Ahuacatitlán, Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62100, México

    Sandra G. Sosa-Rubi, S. Janae Van Buren & Sergio Bautista-Arredondo

  2. Determinants of and Challenges for Health Systems Division, Center for Health Systems Research, National Institute of Public Health Mexico, Universidad 655 Santa María Ahuacatitlán, Cuernavaca, 62100, Morelos, México

    Biani Saavedra-Avendano

  3. Gender and Diversity Division, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA

    Claudia Piras

Authors
  1. Sandra G. Sosa-Rubi
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  2. Biani Saavedra-Avendano
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  3. Claudia Piras
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  4. S. Janae Van Buren
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  5. Sergio Bautista-Arredondo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sergio Bautista-Arredondo.

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Funding

The data, models, or methodology used in the research are not proprietary. The funding source is the Inter-American Development Bank.

Conflict of Interest

CP works at the IADB and she oversaw the funding of the intervention. The opinions expressed in the paper do not reflect the views of any of the funding or the other organizations that supported and facilitated this study. The funding organizations did not have any role in the study design; data collection, analysis, or interpretation; nor in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors are solely responsible for the contents. They declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

The CB system administrators and faculty implemented the intervention. They were in charge of implementing the study, assigning groups, and collecting data following their own standards of voluntary participation in surveys. It was clear at all times that the information collected was only to be used for aggregated statistical analysis. Researchers involved in the impact evaluation design and data analysis received the anonymous data for secondary analysis.

Informed Consent

The CB school system collected data during the implementation of the program. School faculty responsible for data collection informed the students the objective of the surveys, that their participation was voluntary, and that they could decline to respond to any question at anytime. The questionnaires were self-administered and the faculty had no access to the data and therefore was unable to see if students did not respond to any question. The instructions in the questionnaires also explained the voluntary nature and confidentiality of the data collection tools.

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Sosa-Rubi, S.G., Saavedra-Avendano, B., Piras, C. et al. True Love: Effectiveness of a School-Based Program to Reduce Dating Violence Among Adolescents in Mexico City. Prev Sci 18, 804–817 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-016-0718-4

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