Risk assessment of dating violence among youth: Challenges and directions forward (original) (raw)

Shaffer, C.S., Douglas, K.S. & Viljoen, J. L. (2018, October). Risk assessment of dating violence among youth: Challenges and directions forward. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Whistler, BC, Canada. Dating violence among adolescents is an ongoing, serious, and global social and public health problem. Given evidence for risk and protective factors associated with dating violence, a next step in applying research to prevent or minimize harm includes the development of risk assessment instruments that aggregate predictors. The current review was undertaken to identify available assessment methods to evaluate risk of dating violence among youth. Three types of instruments were identified: (a) adolescent perpetrator and victim self-report appraisals of risk (e.g., Dating Behavior Survey), (b) adolescent general violent and offending risk assessment instruments (e.g., Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth, Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory) and (c) adult intimate partner violence risk assessments instruments (e.g., Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Scale: Version 3). Each instrument type has promising features. However, important limitations were also noted which suggest that a risk assessment instrument designed specifically to evaluate the likelihood of dating violence among adolescents is needed. Future directions for dating violence risk assessment, including steps to adapt the Spousal Risk Assessment Scale for use with adolescents, are discussed.