Teen Dating Violence (TDV) Prevention in 2020 and Beyond

Proposed Use and Call for Further Research of TDV Video Games

Screenshots from a selection of prosocial video games intentionally designed for violence prevention published by Jennifer Ann’s Group. (Jennifer Ann’s Group)

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Teen dating violence is a serious, but preventable, public health crisis with long-lasting negative impacts at the local, regional, and national level. Current approaches to prevention are hindered by many complicating factors and innovative evidence-based solutions for prevention are desperately needed.

Psychological or emotional abuse is one form of violence in abusive relationships. Lamplight Hollow is a role-playing game that explores one type of psychological abuse commonly known as gaslighting. (Luciano Sgarbi)

The Problem

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a pervasive, complex problem and current solutions are insufficient. Over 40% of all students in the U.S. will have been in an abusive relationship by the time they graduate from college with nearly 1.5 million high school students physically abused by a dating partner every year (Forke, et al., 2008; CDC, 2006).

Teen dating violence is defined as the physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence occurring within an adolescent dating relationship or stalking (CDC, 2017). Approximately 25% of all teens report having been abused by a partner within the past year (Foshee, et. al., 1996), 9.6%…