New article alert: Intimate partner violence among Indigenous youth

Dr. Cavanagh's latest article, Intimate Partner Violence Among Indigenous Youth: Cultural Connectedness, Social Support, and the Victim-Offender Overlap, is out now in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma. This paper was led by recent ADJust Lab graduate Dr. Alyssa LaBerge, with fellow MSU alums Dr. Makayla Burden and Dr. Ariel Roddy!

Indigenous youth face high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of ongoing colonial harm. But, youth do not always fall neatly into “victim” or “offender” categories. How often are Indigenous youth both? And, can connection to land, culture, and community help protect them?

Among 274 Indigenous youth, 28% reported IPV victimization, 20% reported perpetration, and 12% reported both. Youth who reported victimization had more than 4 times the odds of also reporting perpetration.

In simple comparisons, youth living off tribal lands were more likely to experience victimization and perpetration, while youth who viewed culture as a source of strength or had more social support were less likely to experience victimization. But, these patterns did not hold once we accounted for other factors. Feeling safe at home was associated with less IPV perpetration.

What’s the take-home message? IPV prevention cannot treat victims and perpetrators as entirely separate groups. Researchers should use richer, community-engaged approaches to understand how Indigenous youth connect to land, culture, identity, and community.

Practitioners should address IPV victimization AND perpetration together. Prevention programs should be developed WITH Indigenous communities, rather than assuming that programs designed for non-Indigenous youth will translate.