Dating Violence, Protection Orders, and Gender Inequality: A Cross-state Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation.

DATING violence laws; INTIMATE partner violence -- Law & legislation; RESEARCH; SEXISM; RESEARCH methodology; SOCIAL media; ATTITUDE (Psychology); DATING violence; POPULATION geography; INTERVIEWING; GROUP identity; INTIMATE partner violence; DOCUMENTATION; GOVERNMENT policy; CONSUMER activism; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; POLICY sciences; JUDGMENT sampling; LOBBYING

CONNECTICUT; OKLAHOMA; OHIO; UNITED States

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a public health crisis that organizations and individuals in several fields are working to prevent and address. State lawmakers are a group with substantial power to address TDV and intimate partner violence (IPV) through policies including Civil Protection Order (CPO) statutes. Understanding the factors that influence how state legislators craft TDV and IPV policies and how those policies are implemented can lead to policy processes that better serve survivors. Past research suggests the level of gender inequality in a state may be an important influence on TDV policies. This study used a case study approach to compare the processes of adding individuals in dating relationships to CPO statutes in a subset of states (n = 3) with high, middle, and low levels of gender inequality. Results did not suggest that gender inequality was related to variation between states but rather that it was a larger factor that creates the need for TDV policies at all. Relationships between the state IPV coalitions and lawmakers and the historical moment that laws were considered emerged as important factors in interstate variation. Future research can build on these results by further exploring the role of gender inequality in policy processes with additional states or policies and by examining the factors identified here in greater depth. Implications for practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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