High Expectations Across Multiple Domains, Peer Norms, and Physical Dating Violence Among California Adolescents.

The purpose of this study is, first, to assess whether high expectation messages (from school, home, and community), and peer norms, were associated with physical dating violence victimization (PDV) among a representative sample of California middle and high school students, and second, to assess whether these associations differed by gender and grade level and/or were mediated by self-efficacy. Data from 7th-, 9th-, and 11th-grade respondents of the 2008-2010 California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) were analyzed (N = 85,198). CHKS is an anonymous, school-based cross-sectional survey. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for expectations in each domain (school, community, and home), peers norms, and their cumulative effects on physical dating violence victimization. We examined interactions for expectations and for peer norms by gender and grade level, and tested the mediation effect of self-efficacy. Ten percent of students reported experiencing physical dating violence victimization in the past year. Students who reported high overall expectations (in multiple domains) had significantly lower odds of experiencing dating violence (OR = 0.24, CI = [0.20, 0.28]) compared with those who reported very low expectations. This association held across all expectation domains and peer norms when tested in separate models and also when tested together in a single model. High expectations in the home domain and peer norms showed the lowest odds. Associations between high expectations and dating violence were similar across gender and grade levels. Self-efficacy partially mediated the associations between high expectations and dating violence. Suggestions for future research are presented.