Abstract
Research demonstrates that both peer socialization and underage drinking play a significant role in teen dating violence. However, less is known about the lasting effects of these risk factors on boys’ ability to form healthy romantic relationships as they get older. The present study examined whether boys who perceived their peers would respect them more for having sex and those who engaged in past year heavy alcohol use would be more likely to perpetrate sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) in young adulthood compared to boys who did not endorse perceived peer approval for sex or report past year heavy drinking. Analyses were conducted using a sample of boys (n = 1,189) from Waves I and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). A logistic regression was conducted to assess the relationship between perceived peer approval to have sex and heavy alcohol use at Wave I and sexual IPV at Wave III, after adjusting for demographic factors and other correlates of sexual IPV at Wave I, including age, race/ethnicity, sexual initiation in adolescence, parental attachment, annual family income, and neighborhood poverty. Boys who believed they would gain peer respect by having sex and boys who reported getting drunk in the last 12 months, regardless of how often, were significantly more likely to report sexual IPV in young adulthood compared to boys who did not endorse either of these factors. Targeting boys’ perceived peer norms regarding sexual activity and heavy alcohol use may therefore be especially important for preventing sexual IPV later in life.
Violence between intimate partners (e.g., spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, dating partner, ongoing sexual partner), otherwise referred to as intimate partner violence (IPV), often begins in adolescence (Niolon et al., 2017). According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, nearly 26% of women and 15% of men who experience IPV report first accounts of victimization prior to age 18 (Smith et al., 2018). Additionally concerning, approximately two out of every three individuals who perpetrate IPV report repeat offenses with more than half (55%) committing their first acts of violence while still in their teens (Zinzow & Thompson, 2015).
IPV during adolescence is commonly referred to as teen dating violence (TDV). Despite a recent downward trend in TDV, it remains prevalent among youth (Kann et al., 2018). Nationwide estimates of high school students suggest that among those who date (68%), nearly 7% experience TDV victimization, including unwanted kissing, touching, and forced sexual intercourse (Kann et al., 2018). Adolescence is a developmental period when many teens begin to form more cross-sex relationships including friendships, dating, and sexual relationships (Shute et al., 2008). It is also a time characterized by increased engagement in risky behaviors such as early sexual initiation, impersonal sex, underage drinking, and illicit drug use, all of which are associated with sexual violence perpetration (Casey & Masters, 2017; Madkour et al., 2010). Although risky behaviors associated with TDV are well documented, the etiology of violence between intimate partners, including how it manifests and persists from adolescence into later years is not fully understood.
The ways in which adolescents experience the most severe forms of sexual violence in the context of dating or intimate relationships vary by gender with rates of victimization (e.g., unwanted or forced kissing, touching, intercourse) more prevalent in girls (15.2% versus 4.3% in boys; Kann et al., 2018) and severe accounts of perpetration (e.g., coercive sex, forced sexual contact, or attempted or completed rape) more common among boys (98% versus 2% in girls; Ybarra & Mitchell, 2013). Research suggests upwards of 84% of boys who perpetrate sexual violence perceive the victim as at least somewhat responsible for what happened with first accounts of perpetration peaking around age 16 years (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2013). From a public health standpoint, identifying early predictors of IPV is important because the adverse health outcomes and economic costs associated with these violent experiences are substantial (Smith et al., 2018). Taken together, these findings underscore the need to better identify linkages between certain risk factors in adolescence and later IPV, particularly among males.
The Integrated Model of Sexual Assault and Acquaintance Rape (Berkowitz, 1992, 2003) offers a multi-factor approach for understanding how the presence or absence of different factors among boys and men increases their propensity to perpetrate IPV. Specifically, the model proposes that a perpetrators’ attitudes, beliefs, and socialization experiences, coupled with situational variables commonly associated with sexual assault such as alcohol use (Abbey, 2011), interact to delineate conditions that justify violent behavior (Berkowitz, 1992, 2003). The model also assumes that most perpetrators who commit sexual assault do not define their behavior as such (Berkowitz, 1992). In the context of cross-sex relationships, it is argued that boys and men socialized into traditional gender roles are more likely to form beliefs and attitudes that condone use of force to secure dominance over girls and women to demonstrate their masculinity (Amin et al., 2018; Reidy et al., 2015). An experimental study of early adolescents conducted by Widman et al. (2016) indicates that boys are especially prone to socialization or peer influence in sexual situations and that adolescents who believe having sex will garner peer approval or “social currency” (e.g., help them fit in, gain respect from friends, or become more popular) are more likely to conform to risky sexual norms.
Research on situational variables associated with sexual assault also documents strong associations between alcohol use and IPV (Abbey, 2011; Moore et al., 2011; Waller et al., 2013). In the United States, alcohol use typically begins and escalates during adolescence and young adulthood, with heavy drinking practices (e.g., binge drinking or “getting drunk”) more prevalent among boys than girls (Patrick & Schulenberg, 2014). A meta-analysis conducted by Rothman et al. (2012) indicates that youth who engage in problem drinking show an increase in odds for dating violence perpetration. A longitudinal study by Temple et al. (2013) similarly found that substance use, including underage drinking, among a sample of high school students, predicted physical dating violence 1 year later, even after accounting for exposure to interparental violence. Not all risk factors need to be present in order for the perpetration of violence to occur as some factors may be stronger predictors of perpetration than others (Berkowitz, 1992). Collectively, these findings point to growing evidence that socialization experiences such as perceived peer approval to engage in sex, coupled with situational variables such as alcohol use, significantly predict sexual violence perpetration in boys and men.
Earlier research studies on risk factors of IPV were largely cross-sectional in their design and therefore limited in their ability to draw conclusions about temporal relationships between IPV and specific individual, social, and situational factors (Taquette & Monteiro, 2019). Over the last decade, an increasing number of studies have utilized data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine how different factors present in adolescence may increase risk for IPV in young adulthood (Cui et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2009; Policastro & Daigle, 2019; Renner & Whitney, 2012). Add Health was designed to investigate how intra- and inter-relational factors including peer, familial, school, and community-level variables influence youths’ adjustment into young adulthood and is popular among researchers for its robust longitudinal and nationally representative sampling methods (Harris, 2013). Research findings from studies examining Add Health data suggest risky sexual behaviors such as early sexual debut and promiscuity, TDV victimization and perpetration, and drug use predict patterns of IPV from adolescence to young adulthood (Cui et al., 2013; Halpern et al., 2009; Policastro & Daigle, 2019). Gender differences involving experiences of IPV are also documented. For example, Renner and Whitney (2012) found that a history of youth violence, including getting into fights and pulling a gun or knife on someone, predicted perpetration, victimization, and bidirectional IPV in young adulthood for women but not for men. More recent findings reported by Policastro and Daigle (2019) suggest that peers also play an incremental role in reducing risk for IPV among girls but not boys, whereas the opposite was true for school attachment. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that socialization factors vary by sex and that the pathways to IPV are not the same for males and females (Policastro & Daigle, 2019).
To our knowledge, no studies have examined the extent to which socialization factors during adolescence, such as perceived peer approval to engage in sexual intercourse and situational variables such as underage drinking, influence subsequent perpetration of IPV. Using Add Health data, the present study aims to expand on existing work by investigating (a) the extent to which boys’ perceived peer approval of sexual activity increases their risk for sexual IPV in young adulthood, and (b) the effects of heavy alcohol use during adolescence on later sexual IPV perpetration after controlling for demographic factors and other correlates of sexual IPV including sexual activity, parental attachment, annual family income, and neighborhood poverty (Chang et al., 2015; Johnson et al., 2015; Rothman et al., 2011; Taquette & Monteiro, 2019). Specific hypotheses are:
H1: Boys’ perceived peer approval to have sex during adolescence will predict sexual IPV perpetration in young adulthood.
H2: Boys’ heavy alcohol use during adolescence will be positively associated with sexual IPV perpetration in young adulthood.
Method
Sample and Procedures
Data were from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Add Health is a school-based longitudinal study that includes 5 waves of data covering a span of more than 20 years (from 1994 to 2018; Harris & Udry, 2017). During the 1994–1995 school year, a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents in grades 7–12 were asked to complete an in-school questionnaire (n = 90,118). Of those who completed the questionnaire, a stratified random subsample of students was selected to complete a follow-up at-home interview in 1995, which formed Wave I of the in-home sample (n = 20,745). Data were collected in 4 subsequent waves: Wave II (original sample in grades 8–12), Wave III (ages 18–26), Wave IV (ages 24–32), and Wave V (ages 32–42; Harris & Udry, 2017). Waves I and II (1994–1995 and 1996) collected information on individual, family, social, other environmental factors, and biospecimens (e.g., urine, saliva) that may influence adolescents’ health. Wave III (2001–2002) collected data on how factors during adolescence link to health and achievement outcomes in young adulthood. Wave IV (2008) and Wave V (2016–2018) continued to collect data on various factors associated with health and risk behaviors while also expanding biological data collection to track the emergence of disease (Harris & Udry, 2017). More detailed information on Add Health’s multistage stratified cluster design, sampling procedures, and use of longitudinal weights to minimize attrition biases are described in detail elsewhere (Chen & Chantala, 2014; Harris, 2013; Harris & Udry, 2017).
The current study used the public datasets from Waves I and III. Participants were eligible for inclusion in the analysis if they participated in both waves, and self-identified as male at both timepoints. Participants were excluded from the present analysis if they were age 15 years or younger at Wave I as these adolescents were not asked about their perceptions of peer approval for sexual activity (n = 2,074). Participants age 19 years or older at Wave I were also excluded to minimize overlapping ages among participants included in Waves I and III (n = 32). Participants who reported a different sex at Waves I and III were also excluded (n = 4). These criteria resulted in a sample of 2,493 participants, of which 52.0% were male (n = 1,189).
Measures
Sexual IPV perpetration.
Surveys implemented at Wave III (an average of six years after Wave I interviews) measured sexual IPV perpetration in young adulthood. Respondents were asked to indicate frequency of perpetrating sexual IPV for each relationship they listed within the past six years. Sexual IPV was defined by the question, “How often have you insisted on or made [partner] have sexual relations with you when [he/she] didn’t want to?” Sexual IPV was categorized as a dichotomous outcome variable (1 = IPV perpetration in one or more relationships; 0 = None).
Perceived peer approval for sex.
Perceived peer approval to have sex in adolescence was assessed at Wave I. Participants responded to the statement, “If you had sex, your friends would respect you more,” with a 5-point response scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Responses were collapsed to agree, neither agree nor disagree, and disagree.
Past year heavy alcohol use.
Alcohol use was measured by the question, “Over the past 12 months, on how many days have you gotten drunk or ‘very, very high’ on alcohol?” Responses were grouped into three categories based on frequency distributions to ensure sufficient sample sizes: never, rarely (less than monthly), and sometimes/often (monthly/weekly).
Lifetime sexual intercourse.
Sexual initiation was coded as a dichotomous variable in response to the question, “Have you ever had sexual intercourse? When we say sexual intercourse, we mean when a male inserts his penis into a female’s vagina.” Respondents reported yes or no at Wave I to indicate initiation of sexual intercourse in adolescence. Next, age at time of sexual initiation was calculated using the following question(s): “In what month and year did you have sexual intercourse for the very first time?”
Perceived attachment to parents.
Parental attachment at Wave I was calculated as the mean value of reported closeness to mother and father using a 5-point response scale ranging from not at all to very much, as described by Tillyer and Wright (2014). Reported closeness to mother was measured using the following question: “How close do you feel to your mother/adoptive mother/stepmother/foster mother/etc.?” Reported closeness to father was measured using the following question: “How close do you feel to your father/adoptive father/stepfather/foster father/etc.?”
Annual family income.
Family income at Wave I was categorized into four groups: “low income (less than $25,000), medium income ($25,000 to less than $50,000), high income ($50,000 and higher), and refused/missing income.”
Neighborhood poverty.
Census block-level (neighborhood) poverty concentration at Wave I was classified into categories based on the proportion of residents with incomes below the 1989 federal poverty level: low poverty (less than 11.6% of residents living below poverty), medium poverty (11.6 to 23.9% of residents living below poverty), and high poverty (greater than 23.9% of residents living below poverty).
Demographic variables.
Age was assessed at Wave I. Race and ethnicity were also assessed by combining, “Are you of Hispanic or Latino origin?” and “What is your race?” into the following categories: Hispanic, non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black or African American, or non-Hispanic other. Non-Hispanic other included American Indian or Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander, and other racial categories.
Data Analysis Plan
Analyses were conducted using Stata/SE 13.1 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX) with corrections for complex survey design and weighting to yield nationally representative estimates (Chen & Chantala, 2014). A logistic regression was conducted to assess the relationship between perceived peer approval to have sex and heavy alcohol use at Wave I and sexual IPV at Wave III, after adjusting for other study covariates assessed at Wave I (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, sexual initiation in adolescence, parental attachment, annual family income, and neighborhood poverty). When the outcome is relatively rare (<10%), such as sexual IPV perpetration in this sample, the odds ratio is an accurate estimation of the risk ratio (Persoskie & Ferrer, 2017).
Results
Table 1 describes the study sample. Males were on average 16.48 years of age at Wave I (95% CI, 16.41–16.55) and 22.85 years of age at Wave III (95% CI, 22.77–22.93). At the time of Wave I, nearly 1 in 5 boys reported that they believed their friends would respect them more for having sex (19.76%) and approximately 38% said they had engaged in heavy drinking during the last 12 months. About half of boys (49.04%) reported that they had engaged in sexual intercourse at some point in their lifetime with an average age of 14.13 years at the time of sexual debut. At the time of Wave III, slightly more than 6% of young men reported they had ever perpetrated sexual IPV.
Behavioral and Demographic Characteristics of Males at Waves I and III.
Note. Frequencies and mean values represent weighted data.
aIncludes American Indian or Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander, and other.
bAge when first had sexual intercourse is measured among those reporting intercourse prior to Wave I.
Table 2 shows the odds of perpetrating sexual IPV as a young adult among adolescent boys who perceived their peers would respect them more for having sex and those who engaged in heavy alcohol use at Wave I after adjusting for demographics and other known risk factors at Wave I. Findings indicated that adolescent boys who agreed that their peers would respect them more for having sex were 3.62 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.57-8.34]) times more likely to perpetrate sexual IPV as a young adult compared to boys who disagreed with this statement, accounting for other factors in the model. Results also revealed that adolescents were over four times more likely to perpetrate later sexual IPV if they had a history of getting drunk rarely (aOR = 4.03; 95% CI = [1.83-8.84]) or sometimes/often (aOR = 4.56; 95% CI = [2.16-9.60]) in the past 12 months compared to boys who reported no past year heavy alcohol use.
Logistic Regression Results for Perpetration of Sexual IPV (Wave III) Adjusting for Contextual Factors (Wave I).
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, *** p < .001; aOR = adjusted odds ratio.
aIncludes American Indian or Native American, Asian or Pacific Islander, and other.
Discussion
Sexually experienced boys are more often perceived as gaining peer respect for engaging in sex and have a more positive reputation for their sexual encounters during adolescence than sexually experienced girls (Kinsman et al., 1998). As a result, boys and men who hold high sexual outcome expectancies or perceive they have something positive to gain by having sex (Kågesten et al., 2016) may utilize coercive or aggressive tactics to obtain sex to gain acceptance from other males (Gibbs et al., 2020). This is especially true when a social context appears to normalize violence against women (Berkowitz, 1992, 2010) and involves alcohol (Abbey, 2011; Casey & Masters, 2017). Although previous research demonstrates that both peer socialization and underage drinking play a significant role in TDV (O’Keefe, 2005), less is known about the lasting effects of these behaviors on boys’ ability to form healthy romantic relationships as they get older. To our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effects of perceived peer approval for sexual activity and heavy alcohol use during adolescence on perpetration of sexual IPV in early adulthood using a nationally representative longitudinal sample. The present study reports two major findings that have important implications for future research and the development of dating and sexual violence prevention programs.
First, confirming H1, findings indicate that adolescent boys who perceived they would gain respect from their peers for being sexually active were significantly more likely to report sexual IPV perpetration in early adulthood compared to boys who did not perceive they would gain respect from their peers for being sexually active. Studies of young men demonstrate that those who adhere to traditional masculine gender roles such as hypersexuality, toughness, anti-femininity, and rape myth acceptance are more likely to perpetrate IPV in relationships (Abbey et al., 2011; Franklin et al., 2012; Huntington et al., 2022; Santana et al., 2006). It is possible that masculine norms internalized during adolescence that encourage sex or other risky behaviors may carry forward into young adulthood thereby maintaining boys’ propensity to engage in acts of sexual violence as they get older. A recent longitudinal study conducted by Copp et al. (2019) demonstrates that attitudes towards IPV in young adulthood appear to be at least in part shaped by prior socialization experiences including exposure to family violence and prior romantic relationships. More research is needed to better understand how other socialization experiences such as peer approval for sex persist into young adulthood and in turn influence IPV. The current findings provide preliminary evidence that interventions designed to help adolescent boys challenge existing social norms could play an important role in the prevention of later IPV perpetration.
Second, confirming H2, results show that heavy drinking or getting drunk during adolescence, regardless of how often, increased the likelihood of sexual IPV perpetration in young men after controlling for study covariates. This finding is consistent with previous research demonstrating linkages between drinking and sexual violence perpetration (Abbey, 2011; Rothman et al., 2012). This finding is also consistent with theoretical explanations that the acute psychopharmacological effects of alcohol intoxication heighten impulsivity, inhibit information processing of social cues (e.g., dismissing or ignoring implicit or explicit behaviors signaling refusal of sexual advances or non-consent), and impair sound decision-making, which can in turn facilitate IPV perpetration (Abbey, 2011; Giancola et al., 2010; Rothman et al., 2012). Less is known, however, about the distal effects of engaging in heavy alcohol use during adolescence and later IPV. A systematic review conducted by Capaldi et al. (2012) found that while there is evidence of an association between indicators of alcohol use and IPV, the relationship is not as robust as previously thought. The authors posit that one explanation for their finding is that problematic drinking is often associated with other risk factors such as conduct problems or antisocial behavior, which are also found to predict both alcohol use and IPV (Capaldi et al., 2012). Given the complex nature of the relationship between alcohol use and risk for IPV over time, more research is needed to better understand how the development of specific patterns of underage drinking during adolescence either directly or indirectly influence later engagement in IPV. Nevertheless, results from the present study provide some evidence that heavy alcohol use during adolescence is associated with later IPV.
It has been theorized that heavy drinking or one’s ability to consume large amounts of alcohol is an expression of masculinity much in the same way being sexually active is viewed as a reflection of traditional masculine norms (Lemle & Mishkind, 1989). One study of high school seniors demonstrated that internalization of masculine norms was directly associated with alcohol use with findings especially prominent among boys (Iwamoto & Smiler, 2013). When considered in the context of our finding on peer approval to have sex, it is possible that boys who feel compelled to prove their masculinity through sexual conquests may feel similar pressures to affirm their masculinity through heavy drinking. In other words, by proving to their peers that they can tolerate excessive amounts of alcohol. Taken together, these findings underscore the importance of developing dating and sexual violence prevention interventions that help adolescent boys challenge existing social norms by making connections between certain masculine standards (e.g., showing masculinity through early sexual conquests and heavy drinking) and IPV perpetration (Amin et al., 2018; Exner-Cortens et al., 2019; Huntington et al., 2022).
Health promotion programs grounded in social norms theory aim to share the “good news”; specifically, that most people do not support a problem behavior and want to take a stand against it (Berkowitz, 2003, 2010). According to social norms theory, when the actual norms of a group regarding sexual activity and IPV-related attitudes and beliefs are revealed, individuals may feel less apt to engage in sexual coercion and could be more willing to intervene to address inappropriate behavior (Berkowitz, 2003, 2010). Problematically, men often harbor misperceptions about the extent of sexual activity among their peers, believing that other men are more sexually active than they actually are (White et al., 2003). As underscored by the present findings, debunking perceived norms that associate sexual activity with social status and addressing situational factors such as heavy alcohol use among boys may be particularly salient prevention strategies. In fact, one sexual assault prevention program for college men grounded in social norms theory and bystander intervention revealed a reduction in perpetration of sexual aggression over a four-month follow-up in the intervention group compared to controls (Gidycz et al., 2011). Detailed guides exist describing the implementation of social norms theory to promote attitude and behavior change that can be leveraged in future intervention efforts (Haines et al., 2005; Lapinski & Rimal, 2005; McAlaney et al., 2011).
Limitations and Directions for Future Research
The present findings must be understood in the context of several limitations. First, all study measures were based on self-report. However, as Foshee et al. (2013) describe, perpetration of IPV is rarely witnessed by others and self-reported survey items are a viable option for measuring abusive behavior in dating and intimate relationships. Second, although this study was longitudinal, our results may be confounded by unmeasured factors. Our measure of peer approval for sexual activity was limited to a single question and did not fully represent the complex network peers form around the time of adolescence that may influence perpetration of sexual IPV in young adulthood (e.g., network size, network composition). Third, this study only includes findings for sexual IPV. It is possible that peer approval to have sex and heavy drinking may differentially influence other forms of IPV such as psychological aggression and physical violence. However, due to limitations in the survey design (item wording), we were unable to disaggregate data by these other two forms of IPV. Future studies should examine how peer approval to have sex influences IPV perpetration more broadly. Fourth, although our findings may reflect a causal relationship between adolescent peer approval to have sex and perpetration of partner violence in young adulthood, generalizability of the study findings may be limited. Lastly, our findings are specific to sexual violence within relationships and do not account for sexual violence that occurs in other contexts. Among individuals ages 11 to 20 years old, approximately 10% of sexual assaults transpire between romantic partners (e.g., boyfriends/girlfriends), while 42% occur between friends, 26% between acquaintances, and 5% while on a date (Grotpeter et al., 2008). Future studies should consider how risk factors present during adolescence predict the occurrence of later sexual violence outside of romantic relationships. Nevertheless, this study provides a greater understanding of how early socialization and situational factors experienced in adolescence may influence later IPV in males.
Conclusion
This prospective evaluation of the adolescent boys highlights peer socialization and heavy alcohol use as two key contextual factors associated with subsequent perpetration of sexual IPV in early adulthood. Given the importance of preventing violence before it develops, interventions that target perceptions of peer norms may be useful in promoting healthy relationship skills and reducing sexual violence perpetration among boys and men.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
