RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Dating violence in young adults is an important public health issue because of its magnitude and impact on health. The goal of this study is to determine the prevalence 12 months before the survey by sex and its association with socio-demographic and health risk behavior. METHODS: Data were drawn from the Non-communicable Disease Risk-Factor Surveillance System in young people (Spanish acronym, SIVFRENT-J), on a representative sample of students of the fourth-year of secondary education (15 to 16 years) in Madrid Region. The students were asked whether they had ever suffered any physical violence (PV) and/or sexual violence (SV) dating episodes. Prevalence with 95% confidence intervals (CI95%) of the occurrence of such episodes were estimated; generalized linear models with binomial family and logarithmic link were used to estimate the association between physical and/or sexual violence (PSV) and health risk behavior through prevalence ratios (PR, CI95%). RESULTS: In 1713 dating girls and 1664 dating boys, the prevalence of PV was 2.9% (CI95%:2.0-3.9) and 4.0% (CI95%:2.9-5.0) (p>0.05), SV 5.3% (CI95%:4.1-6.5) and 2.4% (CI95%:1.6-3.2) (p< 0.001) and PSV 7.1% (CI95%:5.6-8.6) and 5.1% (CI95%:4.0-6.3) (p<0.05) in that order. In the girls explanatory model, PSV was associated with eating disorders PR:1.74 (CI95%:1.14-2.66), sexual risk behavior (SRB), PR:1.67 (CI95%:1.11-2.50), excessive alcohol consumption, PR:1.57 (CI95%:1.06-2.34) and worse perceived health, PR:1.67 (CI95%:1.08-2.57). In boys, PSV was associated with having been born in a country other than Spain, PR:2.05 (CI95%:1.32-3.18), eating disorders, PR:2.79 (CI95%:1.58-4.92), SRB, PR:2.22 (CI95%:1.34-3.66) and drug consumption, PR:2.14 (CI95%:1.39-3.28). CONCLUSION: VFS was higher in girls and was associated to others health risk factors with similar characteristics according to sex.