Communication of Conflict Among Mexican American Dating Couples: An Integrative Framework to Prevent Teen Dating Violence

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a national health priority and targeting communication skills is considered best practice within TDV prevention programs. However, most of what is known about communication of conflict stems from research with white adolescents. Cultural considerations for Mexican American youth in particular are lacking, despite that this is a large and growing youth population in the United States. The aim of this conceptual article is to propose the Integrated Cultural-Developmental Framework of TDV to attend to unique cultural and developmental considerations central to communication processes among Mexican origin youth. This framework was developed using findings from the Mexican American Teen Relationships study and these are delineated in application of the new framework. Practice and program recommendations for social workers in the prevention of TDV among underserved Latino youth populations are discussed.