Adhia Avanti, Roy Paladhi Unmesha, Ellyson Alice M
Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America.
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America; Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States of America.
Prev Med. 2024 May;182:107937. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2024.107937. Epub 2024 Mar 13.
Teen dating violence (TDV) is prevalent with lifelong adverse consequences, and strategies to reduce its burden are needed. Many U.S. states have enacted laws to address TDV in schools, but few studies have examined their effectiveness. This study aimed to assess whether state TDV laws were associated with changes in physical TDV victimization among high school students.
We used repeated cross-sectional data of high school students from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey across 41 states from 1999 to 2019. Using a difference-in-differences approach with an event study design, we compared changes in past-year physical TDV in states that enacted TDV laws (n = 21) compared to states with no required laws (n = 20). Analyses accounted for clustering at the state-level and state and year-fixed effects. We conducted sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of our findings.
In our sample of 1,240,211 students, the prevalence of past-year physical TDV was 9.2% across all state-years. In 1999, the prevalence of TDV at the state-level ranged from 7.5 to 13.0%; in 2019, the prevalence ranged from 3.7 to 10.5%. There was no significant association between TDV laws and past-year physical TDV. Six or more waves after enactment, we observed a non-significant 1.7% percentage point reduction in TDV in states with TDV laws (95% CI: -3.6 to 0.3 percentage points; p = 0.10).
We found no significant association between enactment of TDV laws and physical TDV among high school students. Further research is needed to understand how TDV laws are implemented and components of TDV laws that may influence effectiveness.
青少年约会暴力（TDV）普遍存在，会产生长期不良后果，因此需要采取减轻其负担的策略。美国许多州已颁布法律来应对学校中的TDV，但很少有研究考察这些法律的有效性。本研究旨在评估州TDV法律是否与高中生身体遭受TDV侵害情况的变化相关。
我们使用了1999年至2019年41个州青少年风险行为调查中高中生的重复横断面数据。采用带有事件研究设计的双重差分法，我们比较了颁布TDV法律的州（n = 21）与无相关法律要求的州（n = 20）过去一年身体遭受TDV侵害情况的变化。分析考虑了州层面的聚类以及州和年份固定效应。我们进行了敏感性分析以评估研究结果的稳健性。
在我们1,240,211名学生的样本中，所有州年份过去一年身体遭受TDV侵害的患病率为9.2%。1999年，州层面TDV的患病率在7.5%至13.0%之间；2019年，患病率在3.7%至10.5%之间。TDV法律与过去一年身体遭受TDV侵害情况之间无显著关联。在颁布法律后的六次或更多次调查中，我们观察到颁布TDV法律的州TDV患病率非显著降低了1.7个百分点（95%置信区间：-3.6至0.3个百分点；p = 0.10）。
我们发现TDV法律的颁布与高中生身体遭受TDV侵害情况之间无显著关联。需要进一步研究以了解TDV法律是如何实施的以及TDV法律中可能影响有效性的组成部分。
