Dating Violence Among Teens

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The generation of teenagers today faces many issues. With the increase of technology in their lives, teens face more problems today than any other generation before them. One major issue teen’s face is dating violence. Since “one in four teens reports verbal, physical, or sexual abuse in their dating relationship”, it is obvious that this is becoming a widespread national issue (Staples par.7). Middle and high school students are too inexperienced to know that abuse is not love. Since dating violence is a prevalent issue among teens and because of the emotional and behavioral effects, the victims, their parents and their schools need to open up about dating violence. Although teens view dating as a new freedom and independence, it can also turn into a nightmare. Many teens might not be aware that relationships can turn violent. Although “dating violence has always had this core feature of trying to control the thoughts, feelings and actions of another person” teenagers do not know how to recognize the signs of abuse (Teicher par. 4). Warning signs of abuse are attempts to control actions, isolate victims from loved ones and verbally degrading a romantic partner (Robinson par.41). Teens do not yet understand what a normal relationship is. Dating violence is the dangerous obsession over your partner that can have lasting effects on a developing teen. Domestic violence affects various teens today. Reinberg’s research has found that one in three teens have been hurt by a partner (par.2). These numbers seem to be increasing yearly. Duret stated that “nearly 1.5 million high school students across the country experience physical violence at the hands of a dating partner each year” (par.2). Dating violence can affect both genders, however today girls are abused more frequently in relationships. Across the U.S., 20% of adolescent girls report facing violence from their

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