Research on Law and Policy to Prevent Teen Dating Violence: Scoping Review

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a global public health issue with numerous consequences for physical, psychological, social, and emotional well-being. Thus, prevention of TDV has been a focus of research attention for the past several decades. As part of a comprehensive TDV prevention approach, programs, practices, and policies are needed. Yet, no prior research has reviewed the state of the science on laws and policies designed to prevent or address TDV. Thus, the objective of this scoping review was to identify existing global, empirical research on law and policy for TDV prevention and intervention at the municipal, provincial/state/territorial, or federal/national levels. Through comprehensive searches in eight databases in February 2022 and January 2024, we located 4,826 articles for potential inclusion. From this pool, articles were included if they focused on adolescents and on TDV-relevant law or policy at the local/municipal/school, state/provincial/territorial, or federal/national level(s), and were published in a peer-reviewed journal in English between January 1983 and December 2023. Following title/abstract screening and full-text review, 19 studies were ultimately included. These 19 studies focused on TDV law and policy content (36.8%, n = 7), implementation (36.8%, n = 7), and outcomes (26.3%, n = 5). All studies but one were conducted in high-income countries. Findings from this body of work may be useful as other jurisdictions develop TDV prevention and intervention laws and policies. Future work is also needed to understand the developmental, contextual, and policy context for TDV prevention outside of high-income, Western countries.