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Dating Violence Fact Sheet
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Physical dating violence among high school students-United States, 2003 |
Dating violence is defined as the physical, sexual, or psychological/emotional violence within a dating relationship. Each year, 1 in 11 adolescents reports being a victim of physical dating violence (CDC 2006). Many of these cases can be prevented by helping adolescents develop skills for healthy relationships with others (Foshee et al. 2005).
Dating Violence Statistics
Adolescents in Abusive Relationship Are at Risk for Health Problems
Choosing Respect: Developing Healthy Relationships to Prevent Dating
Violence
References
Ackard DM, Neumark-Sztainer D. Date violence and date rape among adolescents: associations with disordered eating behaviors and psychological health. Child violence and Neglect 2002;26:455-73. Arriaga XB, Foshee VA. Adolescent dating violence. Do adolescents follow in their friends’ or their parents’ footsteps? Journal of Interpersonal Violence 2004;19(2):162-84. Avery-Leaf S, Cascardi M, O'Leary KD, Cano A. Efficacy of a dating violence prevention program on attitudes justifying aggression. Journal of Adolescent Health 1997;21:11-7. Bergman, L. Dating violence among high school students. Social Work 1992;37:21-7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Physical dating violence among high school students
- United States, 2003. MMWR 2006; 55:532-535. Feiring C, Furman WC. When love is just a four-letter word: victimization and romantic relationships in adolescence. Child Maltreatment 2000;5(4):293–8. Foshee VA, Bauman KE, Ennett ST, Suchindran C, Benefield T, Linder FG. Assessing the effects of the dating violence prevention program
"Safe Dates" using random coefficient regression modeling. Prevention Science 2005;6(3):245-58. Foshee VA, Linder GF, Bauman KE, et al. The Safe Dates Project: theoretical basis, evaluation design, and selected baseline findings. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 1996;12(2):39-47. Halpern CT, Oslak SG, Young ML, Martin SL, Kupper LL. Partner violence among adolescents in opposite-sex romantic relationships: findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. American Journal of Public Health 2001;91(10):1679-85. Hotaling GT, Sugarman DB. An analysis of risk markers in husband to wife violence: the current state of knowledge. Violence and Victims 1986;1(2):101-24. Jaffe P, Sudermann M, Reitzel D, Killip S. An evaluation of a secondary school primary prevention program on violence in intimate relationships. Violence and Victims 1992;7:129–46. Plichta SB. Violence and violence: implications for women's health. In: Falik MM, Collins KS, editors. Women's health: the commonwealth survey. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press; 1996. Silverman JG, Raj A, Mucci L, Hathaway J. Dating violence against adolescent girls and associated substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy, and suicidality. Journal American Medical Association 2001;286(5):572-9. Smith PH, White JW, Holland LJ. A longitudinal perspective on dating violence among adolescent and college-age women. American Journal of Public Health 2003;93(7):1104-9. Wekerle C, Wolfe DA. Dating violence in mid-adolescence: theory, significance, and emerging prevention initiatives. Clinical Psychological Review 1999;19:435-56. Wolfe DA, Wekerle C, Scott K. Alternatives to violence: empowering youth to develop health relationships. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage; 1997.
Adolescents and adults are often unaware how regularly dating violence occurs.
Adolescents and adults often don't make the link between dating violence and poor health.
Dating violence can be prevented. Adolescence has been characterized as a "window of opportunity" - a time for adolescents to prepare for future relationships by learning healthy relationship skills such as negation, compromise, and conflict resolution (Wolfe and Wekerle 1997). That's why adults need to talk to adolescents now about the importance of choosing respect and developing healthy relationships.
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