# Presentation: 591856

## Teenage Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): Victims Perception of School Staff’s Concern About Their Well-being 

**California Department of Education**
**Policy and Evaluation Division**
**Evaluation, Research, and**
**Analysis Unit**
**Kim Wells, MPH, CHES**
**Jenny Singh, BS**
**December 7, 2005**

## Background

- Intimate partner violence (IPV) has become an eminent threat to the safety of teenagers both inside and outside of the school environment.
- IPV is violence between spouses, dating partners, former spouses or former partners.
- In this study, IPV only includes physical abuse among dating partners.

## Purpose of the Study

- To assess whether or not teenagers who have experienced IPV feel that school staff are generally concerned about their well-being.
- To identify other characteristics that may  impact a teenager’s perception of school staff’s concern about his/her well-being

## Methods

- We analyzed the 2003-2004 data from the California Student Survey (CSS) for grades 7, 9 and 11.
- CSS is a self-administered survey completed by a representative sample of California students.

**Notes:**
It is a mandated statewide project conducted biennially as a collaborative effort between three state agencies: the Attorney General’s office, the Department of Education and the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.  It addresses health-related behaviors, risks, and attitudes, covering topics such as the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs as well as safety and violence, diet and physical activity.

## Methods (cont.)

- In 2003-2004, the survey was completed by 10,351 students in 112 randomly-selected middle schools, high schools and classrooms.

**Notes:**
School and student participation was voluntary and required written parent approval.

## Methods (cont.)

- We analyzed student responses to the following three questions:
- 	*At my school, there is a teacher or some other adult...*
- 		who really cares about me.
- 		who notices when I’m not there.
- 		who listens to me when I have 	something to say.

## Methods (cont.)

- Bivariate analysis comparing IPV and other student characteristics to students’ perception of school staff’s concern about their well-being was used to identify candidate variables for multivariate analysis.

## Methods (cont.)

- Multiple logistic regression models were used to assess the association between IPV, other student characteristics and students’ perception of school staff’s concern for their well-being.

## Results

- 4,929  teenagers reported having had a boyfriend/girlfriend during the prior 12 months and answered the three questions of interest.
- 9.7% had experienced some type of physical violence during the 12 months prior to the administration of the survey.

## Results (cont.)

- 19.5% (960) of the students felt that there was not a teacher or some other adult at the school who really cared.
- 17.3% (852) of the students felt that there was not a teacher or some other adult at the school who noticed when they were absent.
- 15.7% (774) of the students felt that there was not a teacher or some other adult at the school who listened to what they had to say.

## Results (cont.)

| Age |  |  | Race |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|    <=13 | 35% |  |   Hispanic | 40% |
|    >=14 | 65% |  |   White/Other | 39% |
| Gender |  |  |   African American |   9% |
|    Male | 44% |  |   Asian/Pacific Islander |   9% |
|    Female | 56% |  |   Native American |   3% |
| Mobility | 12% |  |  |  |

**Notes:**
Mobility was determined by the number of times the student moved during the prior year.  12% of the students in the sample population moved 2 or more times

## Results (cont.)

- Bivariate Analysis: No One Cares

|  |  | % |  | P-Value |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Age (<=13) |  | 22.7 |  | <.0001 |
| Gender (male) |  | 23.1 |  | <.0001 |
| Hispanic |  | 23.6 |  |   .0003 |
| African American |  | 15.0 |  |   .0004 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander |  | 19.3 |  |   .2050 |
| Native American |  | 21.0 |  |   .8375 |
| White/Other |  | 16.0 |  | <.0001 |
| Mobility |  | 23.8 |  | <.0029 |
| IPV |  | 28.1 |  | <.0001 |

## Results (cont.)

- Bivariate Analysis: No One Notices

|  |  | % |  | P-Value |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Age (<=13) |  | 19.6 |  | <.0019 |
| Gender (male) |  | 20.5 |  | <.0001 |
| Hispanic |  | 19.2 |  |   .8964 |
| African American |  | 18.1 |  |   .4964 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander |  | 21.0 |  |   .2928 |
| Native American |  | 18.2 |  |   .7361 |
| White/Other |  | 14.0 |  | <.0001 |
| Mobility |  | 20.7 |  |   .0141 |
| IPV |  | 24.2 |  | <.0001 |

## Results (cont.)

- Bivariate Analysis: No One Listens

|  |  | % |  | P-Value |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Age (<=13) |  | 17.1 |  | <.05 |
| Gender (male) |  | 18.2 |  | <.0001 |
| Hispanic |  | 19.0 |  |   .0663 |
| African American |  | 15.7 |  |   .1760 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander |  | 15.6 |  |   .1529 |
| Native American |  | 19.6 |  |   .6208 |
| White/Other |  | 11.9 |  | <.0001 |
| Mobility |  | 19.5 |  |   .0034 |
| IPV |  | 26.3 |  | <.0001 |

## Results (cont.)

- Multivariate Analysis: No One Cares

|  |  | Odds Ratio |  | 95 % Confidence Interval |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IPV |  | 2.0 |  | (1.5-2.6) |
| Hispanic |  | 1.5 |  | (1.2-1.8) |
| Gender (male) |  | 1.4 |  | (1.2-1.7) |
| Age (<=13) |  | 1.3 |  | (1.1-1.5) |

## Results (cont.)

- Multivariate Analysis: No One Notices

|  |  | Odds Ratio |  | 95 % Confidence Interval |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IPV |  | 1.5 |  | (1.2-1.9) |
| Gender (male) |  | 1.5 |  | (1.3-1.8) |
| White |  | 0.7 |  | (0.6-0.8) |

## Results (cont.)

- Multivariate Analysis: No One Listens

|  |  | Odds Ratio |  | 95 % Confidence Interval |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| IPV |  | 2.0 |  | (1.6-2.5) |
| Gender (male) |  | 1.4 |  | (1.2-1.6) |
| Mobility (>=2 moves) |  | 1.3 |  | (1.0-1.6) |
| White |  | 0.6 |  | (0.5-0.7) |

## Strengths

- Relatively large sample size
- Representative sample of California students
- Small proportions of missing information

## Limitations

- Self-reported behaviors
- Excludes verbal and sexual abuse
- Excludes physical, verbal and sexual abuse that may have been perpetrated by a former boyfriend/girlfriend

## Conclusions 

- Teenagers who have experienced IPV and male students do not perceive that teachers or school staff care about them and/or are concerned about their well-being.
- Hispanic students and younger students are more likely to feel that teachers and other school staff do not care about them.

## Conclusions (cont.)

- Students who moved two or more times during the prior year were more likely to feel that teachers and other school staff do not listen when they have something to say

## Public Health Implications

- Teachers and other school staff play a crucial role in the identification and termination of teenage IPV.  It is imperative that school staff convey to students their concern about their students’ well-being.

## Public Health Implications 

- Given that males experience IPV as often as females (9.7% vs. 9.8%) and are less likely to feel comfortable talking to teachers and other school staff, teachers need to be especially watchful of male students.

## IPV Prevalence

| Age |  |  | Race |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|    <=13 |   8.1% |  |   Hispanic |   9.9% |
|    >=14 | 10.6% |  |   White/Other |   9.3% |
| Gender |  |  |   African                                         American |   9.5% |
|    Male |   9.7% |  |   Asian/Pacific    Islander |   9.2% |
|    Female |   9.8% |  |   Native American | 14.2% |
| Mobility | 12.3% |  |  |  |

**Notes:**
Mobility was determined by the number of times the student moved during the prior year.  12.3% of the students in the sample population who moved 2 or more times had experienced intimate partner violence