Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week – February 4-8, 2008

Maybe it’s your sister, your daughter, your niece, a friend. Maybe she’s YOU. What messages has she gotten in life that may impact the dating relationship? Does she expect the relationship to be mutually respectful? Does she understand that she has a right to say no and for her wishes to count? Does she understand that a relationship is a two-way street and she has a right to her own personal integrity?

Here are some facts that may be a little surprising – or maybe not!

• Approximately 1 in 5 high school girls reports being abused by a boyfriend.

• 1 in 3 female teenagers in a dating relationship has feared for her physical safety.

• 1 in 2 teenagers in a serious relationship has compromised personal beliefs to please a partner.

• 1 in 5 teenagers in a serious relationship reports having been hit, slapped, or pushed by a partner.

• 29% of girls who have been in a relationship said that they have been pressured to have sex or to engage in sexual activities that they did not want.

• Violent relationships in adolescence can have serious ramifications for victims, putting them at higher risk for substance abuse, eating disorder, risky sexual behavior, suicide, and adult revictimization.

• Females ages 16-24 are more vulnerable to intimate partner violenc3e than any other age group – at a rate almost triple the national average.

• Between 1993 and 1999, 22 percent of all homicides against females ages 16-19 were committed by an intimate partner.

• 20 percent of teenage girls age 14-17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.

• 50-80 percent of teens report knowing someone involved in a violent relationship.

• 24 percent of 14-17 year olds know at least one student who has been the victim of dating violence, yet 81 percent of parents either believe teen dating violence is not an issue, or admit they don’t know if it is an issue.

If you or someone you know have been hit, slapped, pushed, verbally insulted, threatened, mocked, isolated, there’s help. Call the Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at 1-866-331-9474.

Does something about your relationship scare you? Take the most important quiz of your life and know we're here to help you pass.

Does your boyfriend/girlfriend:

• Look at you or act in ways that scare you?

• Act jealous or possessive?

• Put you down or criticize you?

• Try to control where you go, what you wear or what you do?

• Text or IM you excessively?

• Blame you for the hurtful things they say and do?

• Threaten to kill or hurt you or themselves if you leave them?

• Try to stop you from seeing or talking to friends and family?

• Try to force you to have sex before you're ready?

• Do they hit, slap, push or kick you?

If you said yes to even one, you may be in an abusive relationship. Call us if you need to talk. We're here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. All calls and chats are anonymous and confidential.

Contact us by phone at 1-866-331-9474 (1-866-331-8453 TTY) or chat online from 4pm - 2am CST.

Peer Advocates are available for assistance and support.

If chat is unavailable, call 1-866-331-9474 or 1-866-331-8453 TTY.

Statistics were taken from:

Silverman, J.G., Raj, A., Mucci, L.A., & Hathaway, J.E. (2001). Dating violence against adolescent girls and associated substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy and suicidality. JAMA, 286(5).

American Bar Association. “National teen dating violence prevention initiative.” Jan. 2008, abanet.org/publicized/teendating.shtml.

Rennison, C.A. (2001) Intimate partner violence and age of victim, 1993-99 (NCJ 187635). Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.

“Children Now”, Kaiser Permanente poll, December 1995.

O’Keefe, M., & Trester, L (1998). Victims of dating violence among high school students. Violence Against Women, 4(2).

Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.

Survey commissioned by the Empower Program, sponsored by Liz Claiborne Inc. and conducted by Knowledge Networks, Social Control, Verbal Abuse, and Violence Among Teenagers, December 2000.

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