Changing your status in a changing world: It is complicated! A developmental systems framework for understanding dating violence in adolescents and young adults

The formation of healthy nonviolent intimate relationships in adolescence can have long-term implications for subsequent relationships, mental wellbeing, and parenting capacity. Thus it is important to consider risk and protective factors of adolescent dating violence throughout development-from early experiences with parents, peers, and the environment to proximal factors such as mental health and friendships. In this chapter we argue that a developmental systems perspective is essential for understanding dating violence during the adolescent and young adult years. We further argue that predicting and explaining adolescent dating violence requires a consideration of different forms of dating aggression, at different stages of development, and across different phases of a relationship (onset, maintenance, dissolution). Finally, we discuss how these developmental differences are occurring in the societal context of rapidly evolving sexual behavioral norms and evolving social media technologies that can have marked effects on dating and dating violence.