Dating Violence In Adolescents

Dating violence is a serious offence and unfortunately, many adolescents experience some form of it as they begin to explore romantic relationships and become sexually active. Dating violence can take on many different forms. There is physical violence, which involves a person being physically harmed by their partner. This type of violence not only involves being hit by a partner, but the abuser may also throw things at their partner or even grab their arms or face to make them do what they want. There is emotional violence, where a person in a relationship will threaten or bully their partner. For example, the abuser may threaten to commit suicide if their partner will not do what they want them to. The emotional abuser may also call their partners names and even put them down to make them feel badly about themselves. Finally, there is sexual violence, where a person is forced to perform sexual activities against their will. When people think of sexual violence, they tend to think about rape, but there are other activities classified as sexual violence. Pressure to have sex by a partner is a form of sexual violence, as well as something that seems as harmless as kissing or hugging someone that does not want to be. Unfortunately, about 25% of adolescents experience some type of dating violence, resulting in these abused adolescents not performing

If there has been abuse in a male’s home life, whether he was the victim, or he witnessed the abuse, that male is more apt to be abusive to his partner. The male may see this type of behavior as normal due to it being a part of his upbringing. For example, if a young male has grown up in a home where his father was always yelling at his mother and calling her derogatory names, the young male is likely to believe that that is how normal relationships are supposed to work and exhibit the same types of behaviors in his future