| Summary: | The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to identify how school concepts may be independently related to dating violence perpetration and 2) to assess how these factors may reduce or exacerbate the relationship between parental domestic violence and adolescent dating violence perpetration, while accounting for adolescent and family characteristics. The school factors examined include academic difficulties, involvement with school, involvement with antisocial peers, and school violence. The adolescent characteristics included were: gender, race, alcohol and/or drug use, mental health problems, childhood sexual abuse, and externalizing behavior problems. Family factors included: family structure, maternal education, family income, parent-child anger and alienation, parent-child trust and communication, father involvement, harsh physical punishment, and parental monitoring. All three waves of the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study were used (N = 765; ages 16-20). Associations between the school factors and dating violence perpetration as well as potential moderating school factors in the intergenerational transmission of violence were assessed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression techniques. Overall, being female, using drugs and/or alcohol, being involved with antisocial peers, having externalizing behavior problems, and being angry or alienated from one's mother was associated with greater dating violence perpetration. School involvement was a significant moderator between parental domestic violence and adolescent dating violence perpetration. Results varied by gender and race, including analyses assessing the school moderators. Implications for the prevention of dating violence perpetration are discussed
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