Urban girls and boys who date: A closer look at the link between dating and risk for alcohol and drug use, self-harm and suicide attempts

This study examined the associations between alcohol use, drug use, self-harm, suicide attempts and dating using logistic regression analyses. Data were obtained from the Youth Violence Survey, conducted in 2004, and administered to all public school students enrolled in grades 7, 9, 11 and 12 (n= 4,131; 52.2% girls and 47.8% boys) in a high-risk school district. Adolescents who reported any alcohol or drug use and any self-harm were more likely to also report dating. While alcohol and drug use were associated statistically with dating for both boys and girls, one or more suicide attempts was linked to dating only among girls in 7th and 9th grades. Similarly, self‐harm was associated with dating among boys in 7th grade but was associated with dating among girls across all grade levels. These findings highlight the importance of understanding and preventing the concurrent risks of dating among adolescents, especially girls, for whom risks were observed across all grade levels.

Keywords:

• adolescents
• dating
• alcohol use
• drug use
• self-harm
• suicide attempt

Acknowledgements

We thank the entire Linkages Study team from ORC Macro, CDC and Battelle who contributed to the planning and implementation of the study. We also thank the school district for their enthusiasm and logistic support of this project. Finally, we thank the students for their time and willingness to participate in this study.