The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded Wayne State University's School of Social Work a three-year, $1,049,223 grant for researching the factors that facilitate and discourage intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration among middle school and high school youth.
Led by Poco Kernsmith, Ph.D., associate professor of social work, and Joanne Smith-Darden, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work at WSU, in collaboration with Roger Kernsmith, Ph.D., professor of sociology, anthropology and criminology at Eastern Michigan University, the study will follow two cohorts of students from Detroit metropolitan area middle schools and high schools. Participating students will be surveyed in each of three years, starting with their sixth and tenth grade of school, respectively. Researchers will explore modifiable risk and protective factors - including the complex interrelationships of individual, relational, school, community and societal processes - that lead to healthy and as well as violent behaviors, such as stalking and physical, sexual and emotional abuse.