Rates of violence Perpetration and victimization in Cohorts of Middle and High- School Students During a Sexual violence Prevention Initiative: A longitudinal Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines the likelihood of violence in successive cohorts of students in a small city during the implementation of a youth-led sexual violence prevention initiative. We compared the likelihood of violence among students who were in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade before the programming to the likelihood of violence among students who were in 8th, 9th, and 10th after the programming. Participants were 2,647 middle- and high-school youth who completed five surveys over 3 years. Later cohorts were less likely to report violence, suggesting that the prevention initiative may have led to reductions in violence over time. Despite limitations (e.g., lack of a comparison group), these data underscore the need for future evaluation of the community-wide impact of youth-led violence prevention initiatives. Clinical trial number: NCT03207386