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Teen Dating Violence Prevention

During the month of February, secondary schools will provide age appropriate information to students regarding teen dating violence.

Almost one-third of teen relationships involve abuse. Help students learn to avoid—or break free from—unhealthy entanglements. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, dating violence is controlling, abusive and aggressive behavior in a romantic relationship. It can happen in straight or gay relationships. It can include verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or a combination of them. You may want to share with students the following examples of dating violence: 

 Controlling behavior includes:

• Not letting them hang out with their friends
• Calling or texting frequently to find out where they are, whom they’re with and what they’re doing
• Telling them what to wear
• Having to be with them all the time

Verbal and emotional abuse includes:

• Name-calling
• Jealousy
• Belittling them (cutting them down)
• Threatening to hurt them, someone in their family or themselves if they don't do what they want

Physical abuse includes:

• Shoving
• Punching
• Slapping
• Pinching
• Hitting
• Kicking
• Hair-pulling
• Strangling

Sexual abuse includes:

• Unwanted touching and kissing
• Forcing them to have sex
• Not letting them use birth control
• Forcing them to do other sexual things

Anyone can be a victim of dating violence. Both boys and girls are victims, but boys and girls abuse their partners in different ways. Girls are more likely to yell, threaten to hurt themselves and pinch, slap, scratch or kick. Boys injure girls more, are more likely to punch their partner and are more likely to force them to participate in unwanted sexual activity. Some teen victims experience violence occasionally. Others are abused more often, sometimes daily.

If you or someone you know is involved in an unhealthy dating relationship, your school counselor can help by providing counseling and resources.