Merging Relationship Education and Child Abuse Prevention Knowledge: An Evaluation of Effectiveness with Adolescents

Using a quasi-experimental design with sample of 623 high school students, we examined the effectiveness of combining information about child abuse prevention with relationship education, on several outcomes. Findings suggest that adolescents who participated in the classes showed significant increases in their knowledge and understanding of healthy relationships, including more realistic beliefs and attitudes about romance and mate selection, decisions about sex, and decreases in their use of verbal aggression in dating relationships compared with control subjects. Participants also showed increases in their knowledge related to harsh caregiving, spanking, and sudden infant death syndrome. Implications for educators, practitioners, and future programming are discussed.