Preventing Adolescent Gender

Based ViolenceNovember 16, 2017

Dr. Joanne CummingsKnowledge Mobilization, PREVNet

drjoannecummings@gmail.com

AcknowledgmentsCanadian Women’s Foundation

Graduate Students:

Jenna Armiento, University of Waterloo Healthy Teen Romantic Relationships

Caely Dunlop, Western University Evidence-Based Healthy Relationships Programs for Youth: Identifying Effective Strategies and Promising Approaches

Agenda1. Explore Definitions of Gender Based Violence (GBV)2. Ecological Theory of GBV and PREVNet Ecological-

Developmental Model 3. Attachment Theory4. Focus on adolescent Dating Violence5. Predictors of Dating Violence6. Evidence based successful school programs7. Lessons learned and principles for most effective

programming to prevent violence against women and girls

Questions and Comments Welcome!!!

Gender Based Violence• Gender-based violence (GBV) is a general term

used to capture violence that occurs as a result of the normative role expectations associated with gender, along with the unequal power relationships between male, female, and queer (nonbinary) identities within the context of a specific society.

• Often used to denote Violence against Women• Inclusive of violence towards LGBTQ individuals

Kofi Annan, 2006

• The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states, "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women" and "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men."

Ecological Theory• Across the globe, research shows GBV is reduced when

there is a transformation in power relations between women and men across all levels of ecological model

• GBV occurs in every society around the world with negative effects on girl’s and women’s health, wellbeing, and economic and political participation

• Need for converging and synergistic messages and actions, from multiple levels and sectors leading to social norm change

• Illustrated in the following model adapted from Michauet. al., (2014)

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Societal

CommunityInterpersonal

Individual

ii

Discriminatory laws & policies

Supportive infrastructure

Submissive FemininityDominant Masculinity

Empowerment for Women/GirlsAccountability for Men/Boys

Inequitable norms & practices

Enabling environment

Stigmashame &silence

Reflectionrespect & dialogue

Imbalance of power/gender inequality

Balance of power/gender equality

Individual

BULLYING

DatingViolence

SexualHarassment

DelinquencyGang/Aggression

IntimatePartner Violence

WorkplaceHarassment

ChildAbuse

ElderAbuse

Developmental Trajectories of Abuse of Powerin Relationships

Gender Based Violence

Attachment is Biologically Embedded

•Bowlby (1982) attachment is a system•System involving integration of emotions, stress physiology, mental representations and behaviours•Part of human’s evolutionary endowment•purpose: protection and survival•Attachment system can be activated or inactivated•activated by threat e.g., under conditions of fear, pain, illness, injury, emotional distress

© Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network, 2007

Secure Base BehaviourWhen Attachment System is activated:• infant seeks physical proximity to

secure base – nervous system becomes calmed

When Attachment System is not activated:

• infant ventures from secure base to explore the world - curiosity takes over

Proximity Seeking and Secure base behaviour seen in all mammals, and especially primates

Healthy Family Relationships Provide:

• Safety, predictability, and Security• Sense of being valued and belonging• Protection from excessive stress & over

time, ability to self-regulate• Modeling and guidance to learn healthy

relationship skills

Enduring Effects of Attachment• Individuals develop “working models” - expectations about

the availability, reliability, and responsivity of caregivers• working models are carried over to other close

relationships• Romantic Attachment styles can be “Anxious” (versus

trusting and confident) or “Avoidant” (versus intimacy-seeking)

• Romantic Attachment styles can amplify or attenuate the impact of family aggression on physical dating violence by influencing beliefs about the acceptability of aggression and ability to regulate anger

What do we know about adolescent dating violence?

• Prevalence• Antecedents of healthy versus violent

adolescent dating relationships• Mental health outcomes (trauma,

emotional distress, substance use, suicidal thoughts, unsafe sexual activity)

• Links to adult abusive relationships

Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence

• Status of Women Canada• the Public Health Agency of Canada;• Public Safety Canada;• the Department of National Defence;• the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Canada.

Prevalence of Dating Violence

1. Ontario study 2012: 30% grade 11 girls reported being in a physically violent romantic relationship; of these 26% were victims, 21% were perpetrators and 53% mutual aggression

2. Ontario study 2013: 20-29% of secondary students reported victimization and 18-28% perpetuation (percentages declined over 3 time points)

3. US study 2010: 26% reported victimization, perpetration or both

4. Emerging evidence that DV even higher in LGBTQ romantic relationships

CDC Characteristics of Healthy Relationships

• Trust*• Communication*• Honesty*• Mutual Respect*

• Individuality• Understanding• Compromise

• Anger control X• Problem solving X • Fighting fair X• Being a role model X

Developmental Considerations

• Inexperience in regulating intense emotions engendered by romantic relationships

• Adolescent brain: period of maturation, incompletely developed executive functioning capacity, risk taking behaviour

• Trauma can have life long effects

Media • Study explored the relationship between extensive and

persistent media use and dating violence (media = TV, movies, music, magazines, Internet)

• Participants reported at all 3 time points that dating violence was mildly unacceptable

• Analyses revealed cumulative risk of extensive media use on dating violence

• Yet attitudes towards dating violence mediated the link between aggressive media exposure and dating violence victimization and perpetration

Relationship Predictors of DV

Not significant• Levels of partner

caring • Love• Intimate self-

disclosure

Significant • Verbal conflict • Jealousy • Less identity support• Infidelity• Longer relationships • More time spent with partner• Reporting of less equal power

balance

Individual Predictors of Dating Violence• negative relationships in family of origin (e.g., parental

maltreatment, exposure to inter-parent verbal/physical conflict)

• peer processes - negative relationships with peers (e.g., bullying, sexual harassment) and affiliation with aggressive peers

• approving/accepting/tolerant/justifying attitudes towards aggression

• delinquent behaviour• difficulty regulating anger• romantic attachment style (anxious or avoidant or

secure) can amplify or attenuate the impact of other risk factors

First Nations Women and Girls

• Inter-generational trauma related to ruptured caregiver attachment relationships

• Continued impacts of colonization• Inter-generational impacts of loss of cultural

connectedness• Need for decolonization – to restore the

Indigenous world view, culture, traditional ways, and Indigenous perspectives of history

Universal DV Prevention ProgramsGold Standard (multiple RCTs and follow-up evidence):• Fourth R, Fourth R: Uniting Our Nations program for

Aboriginal youth• Safe Dates, Families for Safe Dates, Moms and Teens

for Safe DatesPromising Programs • Coaching Boys into Men• Youth Relationships Project• Teen Choices• Shifting Boundaries (sexual harassment)• Ending violence (knowledge of laws and help-seeking)

Common Elements of Successful Programs

1. Time Intensive - Fourth R 21 75-minute sessions, Safe Dates 10 45-minute sessions, YRP 18 120-minute sessions, and Shifting Boundaries (6 40-minute sessions)

2. Incorporate community resources and service providers as well as school-wide components to increase knowledge and reporting/help-seeking

3. Healthy relationship skill building with extensive role-playing and active participant engagement (skills: positive communication, conflict resolution, peer resistance, sexual decision making, etc.

Common Elements Continued4. Psychoeducation about gender stereotypes.

gendered nature of DV, abuse of power in relationships, as well as causes, consequences, and misconceptions of DV.

5. Psychoeducation delivered through film, plays, media, and interactive games.

6. Group discussion and reflection.

Lessons Learned• Predictors for involvement in gender based violence

overlap with risk factors for poor mental health • Alongside universal prevention, identification and

targeted efforts for at-risk students are necessary • Paramount to change attitudes towards dating violence

(acceptability and justifiability, etc.)• Interventions should build conflict resolution skills (i.e.,

anger-regulation, problem solving, assertive communication, fair fighting)

Lessons Learned 2

• Transmission of aggression from family to dating relationships could be interrupted by fostering attachment security – parent-infant mental health

• Learning about healthy relationships, human rights, positive use of power, and social emotional skills should happen from JK through secondary school

Most Effective Programming(Michau et. al., 2014)

Ecological Model• Integrated and coordinated programming for all genders,

multiple sectors across multiple levels• Programming that works towards social norm changeIntersectional Gender-Power Analysis• Programming based on systemic analysis of drivers of

violence against women and girls and gender non-conforming individuals from gender-power perspective

• Understanding specific context and culture, related issues/oppressions, and broader context

Most Effective Programming 2Sustained multi-sector coordinated efforts• Systemic coordinated programming – e.g., education,

health, justice. • Legal and policy reform as a strategy to support social

norm changeTheory and evidence-informed approaches• Evidence-informed communication campaign• Programming grounded in theory of change that takes

into account the complexity of violence, change, and systems that perpetuate violence against women and girls

Most Effective Programming 3

Personal and collective critical thought• Participatory processes that facilitate critical thinking and

reflection• Community and stakeholder realities, experience, skills,

and actions guide the process

Most Effective Programming 4

Aspirational programming• Benefit-based interventions using discourse of

safer, happier, healthier relationships between women and girls and men and boys

• Collective activism – governments held accountable while responsibility is shared by individuals, communities, media and private sector.