Diversity of Profiles and Coping Among Adolescent Girl Victims of Sexual Dating Violence

ABSTRACT

Sexual dating violence (DV) is common among female adolescents, and victims may experience other forms of DV (physical, psychological, and cyberviolence) and report a history of child sexual abuse (CSA). Heterogeneity of these victimization experiences could influence how adolescent girls’ cope. We aimed to identify distinct profiles of victimization experiences among adolescent girls who reported sexual DV and to explore if these profiles were associated to their coping strategies. Of an initial sample of 1,300 female adolescents who completed online questionnaires, 835 (M_age = 16.8 years) reported at least one experience of sexual DV and were included in the analyses. Hierarchical classification with the Two Step analysis revealed four distinct profiles of victimization. A first cluster named Moderate CSA & Cyber-sexual DV (21.4%) is characterized by moderate percentage of all forms of victimization. The second cluster CSA & DV excluding cyber-sexual DV (34.4%) included victims of traditional DV, moderate rates of CSA and no experience of cyber-sexual DV. A third cluster CSA & DV Co-occurrence (20.6%) regrouped victims who have experienced different forms of DV in co-occurrence and CSA. Finally, the fourth cluster, named No CSA & DV Co-occurrence (23.6%) involved victims who have experienced different forms of DV in co-occurrence, but did not report a history of CSA. Analyses revealed significant differences between the profiles on the use of avoidance coping, in their perceived social support, and on help-seeking strategies deployed toward a partner and a health professional. These findings offer cues for prevention and intervention efforts for victimized female adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• sexual dating violence
• child sexual abuse
• co-occurrence of victimization
• coping strategies
• female adolescents

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [grant number 435-2018-0858] awarded to Mylène Fernet, Principal Investigator.

Notes on contributors

Mélina Gilbert

Mélina Gilbert, B.A., is a master candidate in the Department of Sexology at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Mylène Fernet

Mylène Fernet, Ph.D., is a full professor in the Department of Sexology at Université du Québec à Montréal and head of the Laboratory of Violence and Sexuality.

Martine Hébert

Martine Hébert, Ph.D., is a full professor in the Department of Sexology at Université du Québec à Montréal, where she holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Interpersonal Traumas and Resilience. She is also co-holder of the Marie-Vincent Interuniversity Research Chair.

Stéphanie Couture

Stéphanie Couture, M.A., is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sexology at the Université du Québec à Montréal.