Severe Dating Violence and Quality of Life Among South Carolina High School Students

A stratified cluster sample of 5,414 public high school students, grades 9-12, who responded to the 1997 self-administered South Caroline Youth Risk Behavior Survey was studied. The impact of dating violence & forced-sex victimization & perpetration on adolescent well-being was examined. Among young women, severe dating violence, not perpetration, was associated with poor health-related quality of life & suicide ideation or attempts, but not lower life-satisfaction scores. Among young mean, severe dating violence perpetration, not victimization, was strongly associated with poor health-related quality of life & suicide attempts, & lower scores for all domains of life satisfaction. (52 refs.)