Teen Dating Violence

If ever in your junior high or high school years you have had a boyfriend or girlfriend say to you "If you loved me..." "I didn't mean to hit you but I promise it won't happen again…" "Who's going to love you...I'm the best you'll ever get!" than you have probably been a victim of teen dating violence. Even though teen dating violence isn't a subject that is discussed in schools, it is a very common and very serious problem among teenagers. According to the Journal of American Medical Association approximately 1 and 5 female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner (JAMA, 2001).

I picked this topic to do my research paper because my sister was a victim of dating violence in junior high school by her an older boyfriend. He was 17 years old and he was a very jealous insecure boy. He tried to control my sister and when he felt she didn't "listen to him" he would beat her. He raped her and she was only a 13 year old eighth grader in junior high school. Retrospectively looking back, I truly believe had she been educated to look for warning signs or had healthy adult relationships to model after or even a friend to confide in, that the physical and emotional pain she endured could have truly been avoided.

There are several bio-psycho-social factors that contribute to teen dating violence. Many teenagers who come from a lower socio-economic class are at a higher risk to put victims of domestic violence. According to a study done of girls ages 14 to 16 who received child protective services, 90% had begun dating and over 50% experienced sexual and physical violence with their boyfriends or romantic relationships (Wekerly & Wolfe, 1999).

Teenagers with early childhood exposure and experiences to domestic violence may put individual's at a predisposition to have violent tendencies in their romantic relationships as teenagers and even as adults. There is a correlation with neighborhood violence and dating violence. Evidence suggest that being exposed to violence within your neighborhood