Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month - week one

February is Teen Dating Violence (TDV) Awareness Month and Dyess Air Force Base, along with organizations across the United States, will help to make teens aware of dating violence.  Each year over a million teenagers are abused by their dating partner.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states: Teen dating violence, also referred to as “dating violence”, can take place in person or electronically, such as repeated texting or posting sexual pictures of a partner online without consent. Unhealthy relationships can start early and last a lifetime. Teens often think some behaviors, like teasing and name-calling, are a “normal” part of a relationship—but these behaviors can become abusive and develop into serious forms of violence. However, many teens do not report unhealthy behaviors because they are afraid to tell family and friends.

TDV is common. It affects millions of teens in the U.S. each year. Data from CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey indicate that:

• Nearly 1 in 11 female and approximately 1 in 15 male high school students report having experienced physical dating violence in the last year.
• About 1 in 9 female and 1 in 36 male high school students report having experienced sexual dating violence in the last year.
• 26% of women and 15% of men who were victims of contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime first experienced these or other forms of violence by that partner before age 18.
• The burden of TDV is not shared equally across all groups—sexual minority groups are disproportionately affected by all forms of violence, and some racial/ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by many types of violence.

Each week Family Advocacy will provide a new post about Teen Violence on Dyess FaceBook page.  Contact CDC’s Dating Matters team at datingmatters@cdc.gov  Dating Matters^®: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships is a comprehensive teen dating violence prevention model developed by CDC to stop teen dating violence before it starts.  For more help call Dyess Family Advocacy at 325-696-8378.