Abstract
Teenage Relationship Abuse is one of the strongest predictors of Adult Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA; Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 2006). It presents a serious social and economic problem. Recent efforts have focussed on healthy relationship programmes for adolescents as a way of reducing or preventing TRA (Cornelius & Resseguie, 2007). To date, much of the research looking at the effectiveness of these programmes have taken place in the Unites States (US, Antle, Sullivan, Dryden, Karam, & Barbee, 2011a; Foshee et al., 2004; Wolfe et al., 2003). Furthermore, there have been few investigations into why these programmes appear to work. Attitudes condoning violence, low-self-esteem, and negative gender stereotypes have been consistently found to be risk factors for both victimisation and perpetration of abuse and as such were targeted specifically in the intervention. This mixed methods study looks to see if attitudes towards violence, gender stereotyped attitudes and self-esteem change as a result of the programme, and whether changes in gender stereotyped attitudes or self-esteem predict any changes in attitudes towards violence. Interviews were also conducted with participants to gain a deeper understanding of the participant’s experience of the programme. The results suggested that attitudes towards violence did not change, but changes were seen in gender stereotyped attitudes and self-esteem. Furthermore, the qualitative data uncovered three themes; Abuse isn’t simple; Programme increased understanding and knowledge of abuse; and Programme increased confidence. The findings also revealed a number of tentative hypotheses as to what drives change in this programme. These findings suggest that this programme may be effective in modifying important variables that are related to TRA. However, further research, with larger sample sizes are required to confirm these findings.