Adolescents’ Responses to Peer Disclosure of Teen Dating Violence: Relationship Configuration, Response Intentions, and Protective Adult Support

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a relevant form of adolescent interpersonal violence, yet little is known about how adolescents intend to respond when a peer discloses victimization and whether these responses facilitate access to supportive adults and other protective resources. This study examined adolescents’ intended responses following peer disclosure of TDV using a vignette-based design that extended prior work by including four relationship configurations: heterosexual male perpetrator/female victim, heterosexual female perpetrator/male victim, male same-sex couple, and female same-sex couple. Participants were 655 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years from secondary schools in Southern Italy. Descriptive findings showed that supportive and relational responses were most frequently endorsed, including listening to the friend, helping them decide what to do, reassuring them, and encouraging them to talk to trusted others, whereas institutional responses were endorsed less often. Stratified chi-square analyses indicated that condition effects were selective rather than pervasive and were concentrated mainly in responses involving escalation to adults or authorities. Across subgroups, the heterosexual female-perpetrator/male-victim condition was most consistently associated with lower intervention-oriented responding and/or greater uncertainty, whereas the heterosexual male-perpetrator/female-victim condition more often elicited active intervention. The findings suggest that adolescents’ responses to peer disclosures of violence are shaped not only by prosocial intentions but also by the social recognizability of the violent scenario, with implications for validation, access to supportive adults, and inclusive school-based prevention.