Honors Projects

Lauren GayFollow

Abstract

Adolescent sexual abuse and dating violence are serious issues that have life-changing impacts on victims. Sex education in the United States does place an emphasis on sexual assault and dating violence prevention curriculum to be provided for students. These programs have the potential to equip students with the knowledge to lead healthy relationships and prevent violent acts from happening. This review details 25 studies that provided these prevention programs to students and the impacts they had. It was found that the programs had positive impacts on preventing sexual assault and dating violence victimization and perpetration, as well as promoting healthy relationship behaviors. Some negative impacts were found, such as an increase in the prevalence of sexual violence perpetration in some studies. With the data in mind, recommendations were made about what characteristics of each program had the most positive impact on students and what about these studies and programs still needed improvement. It is hoped that implementing these changes will positively impact students’ dating relationships and prevent incidences of sexual and/or dating violence.

Department

Criminal Justice

Major

Forensic Biology

First Advisor

Dr. Oechsle

First Advisor Department

Biological Sciences

Second Advisor

Dr. Cooke

Second Advisor Department

Criminal Justice

Publication Date

Spring 4-22-2024

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