Dating Violence Prevention Program Focusing on Middle School Boys

NCT ID: NCT04312867

Last Updated: 2025-07-30

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 180 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-10-01
• Study Completion Date: 2025-05-31

Brief Summary

This study will test a web-based intervention to enhance emotion regulation skills and parent-son relationship communication to decrease adolescent boys' risk for dating violence involvement as well as attitudes supporting relationship aggression.

Detailed Description

Over the past ten years dating violence (DV) has been recognized as a significant public health problem affecting adolescents. Emerging data suggest that boys and girls have different developmental trajectories toward violence and therefore prevention programs that target their unique pathways to DV are needed. Despite this need, there is a relative dearth of such gender-informed programs for early adolescent boys. This research project aims to prevent the emergence of DV perpetration/ victimization among boys by developing a web-based intervention that is informed by research on gender-specific pathways to violence and harnesses the influence of parents during the early adolescent years.

Among boys, the perpetration of delinquency-related violence and attitudes supporting violence has been found to predict later perpetration of DV. Thus, gender-informed interventions designed to prevent DV in boys need to target skills that underlie violent behavior and attitudes. The goal of this study is to test a web-based intervention to enhance emotion regulation skills and parent-son relationship communication to prevent DV.

A pilot trial was conducted to create and test the efficacy of the web-based intervention. Preliminary results suggested the program was effective in reducing dating-violence involvement. This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) will test the efficacy of the intervention against an active control designed to provide health related information in a format similar to that of the intervention condition. 340 families (English or Spanish-speaking) will be randomly assigned to complete the intervention program or the health-promotion control program. All families will complete the program in an observed setting, to ensure fidelity to intervention dosing. Parents and adolescents will complete the program together and then complete assessments of aggressive and risk behaviors, parent-child communication, and emotion regulation at baseline, 3-month,6-month, 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month follow-ups.

Conditions

Adolescent Dating Violence

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Project STRONG

Project STRONG is an active skill-based intervention designed to prevent adolescent dating violence among middle school boys. Boys and a parent will complete the web-based program together focusing on improving communication and emotion regulation.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Project STRONG

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Project STRONG is a 6-module web-based, dyadic intervention for middle school boys and their parents to complete. Its goal is primary prevention of adolescent dating violence by targeting parent-child communication and emotion regulation ability.

Health Promotion

Health Promotion is an information-based program designed to mimic content areas provided during middle-school health education. The content is provided via a web-based interface to mirror the content delivery in the active intervention (Project STRONG).

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Health Promotion

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Health promotion is a 6 module web-based, health information program designed to provide health content similar to that provided in a middle school health class. This program is designed to mirror Project STRONG for time and delivery method.

Interventions

Project STRONG

Project STRONG is a 6-module web-based, dyadic intervention for middle school boys and their parents to complete. Its goal is primary prevention of adolescent dating violence by targeting parent-child communication and emotion regulation ability.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Health Promotion

Health promotion is a 6 module web-based, health information program designed to provide health content similar to that provided in a middle school health class. This program is designed to mirror Project STRONG for time and delivery method.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. adolescent is between 12 and 15 years old

2. adolescent identifies as male

3. adolescent enrolled in the 7th or 8th grade at a participating school,

4. parent/legal guardian and teen are English or Spanish speaking,

5. parent/legal guardian and son reside together at least 50% of the time,

6. parent/legal guardian is willing to provide consent for the adolescent to participate in the study,

7. adolescent is willing to provide assent for their own participation.

Exclusion Criteria

1. adolescent or parent is unable to read at a 4th grade level or has developmental delays,

2. other family members in household have previously participated in the study

• Minimum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 15 Years
• Eligible Sex: MALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Rhode Island Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Rhode Island Hospital

Providence, Rhode Island, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

R01HD097126

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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