The Evidence Hour: Teen Dating Violence Help-Seeking Among Ethnically and Racially Diverse Youth

The Evidence Hour: Teen Dating Violence Help-Seeking Among Ethnically and Racially Diverse Youth looks at the results of a recent systematic review of studies on this topic, revealing what we know about this connection and where more research is needed.

For May, we will discuss “Teen Dating Violence Help-Seeking Intentions and Behaviors Among Ethnically and Racially Diverse Youth: A Systematic Review” by Diana Padilla-Medina et al. (2021) in Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. [Email the Center for Victim Research Librarian for article access]

Teen dating violence (TDV) affects millions of youths in the United States and globally each year. TDV has been associated with negative physical health and mental health outcomes. Yet, the prevalence of help-seeking among youth who have experience TDV is fairly low. Youth from diverse racial and ethnic groups are particularly vulnerable to TDV victimization, but are still underrepresented in TDV research. While the past decade has witnessed an increased interest from researchers to understand how the phenomenon of TDV manifests among ethnically and racially diverse populations, there is still a gap in the literature that explores the racial and ethnic differences in the help-seeking intentions and behaviors of youth.

Webinar Objectives:

• To assess the state of the empirical literature on dating violence and help-seeking intentions and behaviors among racially and ethnically diverse youth between the ages of 12 and 19.
• To examine the research gaps that remain in the scientific literature.
• To discuss promising actions that researchers, practitioners and advocates can take to fill those gaps and advance science and practice in the field of TDV.

Recording and Related Resources

Presenters:

Diana M. Padilla-Medina, PhD, LMSW, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work. She is also a 2018-2019 Fulbright Scholar. Diana also conducts international consultancy and evaluation work, to help develop social services programs in the Dominican Republic and Colombia. Prior to that, Diana worked as a Psychiatric Social Worker at the Puerto Rican Family Institute, and as Research Scientist at NYU Silver School of Social Work. Diana complements her clinical practice and research, with policy experience. Prior to becoming a social worker, she worked at The Brooking Institution on Latin American issues, such as crime, citizen security, and violence. She received grants from the Organization of American States and Open Society Institute to conduct research work in the region on these topics. Diana’s current research work focuses on sexual and intimate partner violence among adolescents and adults, particularly among Latinos. She has published on the topics of gender, intimate partner violence, and decision making in Latin America, and has participated in local media discussing issues related to adolescent dating violence, and practice of policy implications.
Diana holds a Ph. D from New York University, and a MSW and MA in Human Rights from Columbia University.

Carolina Vélez-Grau, PhD, LCSW, is a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow/Assistant Professor at the NYU Silver School of Social Work. She is a Colombian-born pediatric psychiatric social worker researcher with more than a decade of clinical practice. Her research focuses on suicide prevention and access to mental health services among ethnocultural minoritized youth, particularly Latinx and Black teens. She was awarded an NIMH Diversity Supplement (2020-2022) to study interpersonal factors associated with suicidal ideation and youth’s perceptions about engagement in mental health services. She is interested in incorporating community-based participatory research to develop suicide prevention approaches targeted to Black and Latinx youth who think about suicide. Her goal is to train lay community members for this approach to be delivered in the adolescents’ natural settings.