Research Paper on "Teen Dating Violence"

Research Paper 10 pages (3685 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Teen dating violence runs cuts across race, gender, and socioeconomic lines. Both males and females are victims, but boys and girls are abusive in different ways (National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Initiative, 2006, p.1). Leon (2009) defines teen dating violence as a pattern of abusive behaviors that are used as a means of gaining power and control over a current or former dating partner. There are four main types of dating violence but any type of abusive or coercive behaviors aimed at controlling one's partner would be considered to be dating violence. The verbal form of violence involves name-calling, putdowns, yelling or shouting, threatening the partner or one of the partner's family members. Emotional abuse includes excessive jealousy, trying to control the partner's activities, trying to keep tabs on one's partner through constant phone calls or pages, telling the partner how to dress and behave and also stalking them. Sexual abuse involves unwanted touching or kissing, forcing the partner to have sex or engage in any unwanted sexual activity or even preventing one's partner from using birth control. In terms of gender, girls are more likely to yell, threaten to hurt themselves, pinch, slap, scratch or kick, while boys injure girls more severely and frequently. Some teen victims experience violence more occasionally while others are abused more often, sometimes daily (National Teen Dating Violence Prevention Initiative, 2006, p.1).

In the first part this paper will discuss the effect of teen dating violence on victim and the second part will analyze the possible reasons that the offenders give for committing the violence. Finally the paper will explore the possible rehabilitations for this type of offender in the third part. Several sources are used in the paper to aid in exploring this phenomenon such as an information from research carried out by suddermann and Jaffe on the violence in teen dating relationship. Others include a book by Miles Ending violence in teen dating relationships: a resource guide for parents and pastor and an article by Leon on Teen Dating violence.

Teen Dating Violence as an Issue to Society and its Prevalence

Teen dating violence is a serious problem in the United States because many of the victims do not report the abuse and abusers and they are also afraid to tell friends and family (CDC, 2009). 72% of 8th and 9th graders apparently "date." 1 in 4 adolescents report verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse form a person they were dating, each year. Approximately 10% of students nationwide report being physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the past 12 months in the year the study was carried out (CDC, n.d., p.1).Unhealthy relationships start early and last a lifetime which makes it important for the problem to be tackled early. Violence in adolescent dating relationships is a major problem and may at times result in long-term trauma and psychological sequel for victims. Violence is also viewed as a pre-cursor of violence in adult relationships. The American Bar Association (2006) stated that nearly one-half of adult sex offenders reportedly committed their first sexual offences prior to the age of 18 (p.1). 58% of rape victims report being raped between the ages of 12-24 (p.2).

Half of the reported date rapes occur among teenagers (The American Bar Association, 2006, p.2). Teen dating violence not only affects the victims, but the society as well. There is need for community programs to be set up to provide assistance to victims of domestic violence. These programs provide community education, family violence victim advocate court services, service referrals, temporary emergency shelter, individual counseling, support groups, assistance with safety planning and hotline crisis intervention services (The Speaker's Task Force on Domestic Violence, 2010, p.4). These services require funding from federal and private grants, the state Judicial Department and the state Department of Social Services. A part of the Department of Social Services funding for the programs is derived from $20 surcharge assessed on all marriage licences issued in Connecticut. The Speaker's Task Force on Domestic Violence (2010) reported that in the fiscal year of 2009, the domestic violence account at the Department of Social Services exceeded $1 million, but that the regional domestic violence agencies reported that the department did not distribute funds in a timely manner (p.4).

The National Resource Centre on Domestic Violence provided the following statistics on the subject of teen dating violence (2004, p.1). Studies carried out on subjects ranging in age from 13 to 20 years and who were high school students in metropolitan areas in the western and mid-western United States who represented racially and ethnically diverse communities. The male and female student representation was comparable in numbers. Approximately one in five female students reported being physically and/or sexually abused by a partner that they were dating. Dating violence against girls at adolescence age is associated substance use, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, and pregnancy and suicide tendencies. 17.5% of the girls and 13.3% of the boys reported having had at least one experience of physical violence in a dating relationship. 40% of teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 17 report knowing someone their age who have been hurt or beaten by a boyfriend. Nearly 25% of 14- to 17-year-olds surveyed by the American Bar Association (2006) know of at least one student who was a victim of dating violence, while 11% know multiple victims of dating violence. 33% of teens have actually witnessed such an event (p.2). The same survey found that 20% of male students reported witnessing someone they go to high school with physically hit someone they were dating. 39% of high school female students reported that students talked in school about whether someone is attempting to control the person they are dating. It was also found that 57% of teens knew someone who has been physically, sexually or verbally abused in a relationship. It was found that one in three teens reported to know a friend or peer who had been hit, punched, slapped or physically hurt by someone they were dating. In 9 out of 10 rapes where the offender was under 18, so was the victim. It is with these statistics that teen dating violence is an issue to the society.

The Effect of Teen Dating Violence on the Victim

Teen dating violence differs from adult domestic violence in that when a teenager is abused, she becomes isolated from her peers due to the controlling behavior of her partner. Intimate partner violence among adolescents is associated with an increased risk of substance use, unhealthy weight control behaviors, sexual risk behaviors, suicide and pregnancy (American Bar Association, 2006, p.2). According to the Family Violence Prevention Fund (2009), teenage victims of dating violence are more likely that their peers who have not undergone abuse to smoke, use drugs, engage in unhealthy diet behaviors, like taking diet pills or laxatives and vomiting (develop bulimia) in an attempt to lose weight. They may also start engaging in risky sexual behaviors and attempt or even start considering suicide (p.1). Apparently one in five female public school students, in a study carried out in Massachusetts, reported having experienced physical or sexual violence form a partner that they were dating were four to six times more likely to become pregnant than their non-abused peers. They were also eight to nine times more likely to have attempted suicide in the past year (Family Violence Prevention Fund, 2009, p.1). When compared with girls who were not abused, those who experienced both physical and sexual dating violence were three times more likely to have been tested for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and were also twice more likely to report an STD diagnosis (Family Violence Prevention Fund, 2009, p.1).

Teen dating violence poses a threat to the victim's academic performance because it generates a spectrum of negative effects on the students thereby undermining the school's ability to promote academic growth and achievement. Studies have shown that students who have experienced physical and/or sexual violence have a difficult time learning their subjects. Female students experiencing relationship violence often feel self-conscious and afraid thereby not wanting to attend school while at the same time finding it hard to concentrate in their studies. In a study carried out in California among 9th graders, teen dating violence victims were almost twice as likely to have grades of mostly Ds or Fs (California Attorney General's Office and the California Department of Education, 2004, p.3).

The California Student Survey reported that students that reported relationship violence were much more likely to engage in alcohol or drug abuse than the total sample, especially those in the 9th grade. The risky behaviors were apparently not incidental to but rather were responsible for their lack of performance in their learning (California Attorney General's Office and the California Department of Education, 2004, p.3).

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