Teen Dating Violence

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Any teenager can be a victim of dating violence. Understand what dating violence is and what to do if you're in an abusive relationship.

"The person I'm going out with scares me sometimes"

What is dating violence?

Dating violence is controlling, abusive and aggressive behavior in a romantic relationship. It can happen in straight or gay relationships. It can include verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or a combination of them.

Controlling behavior includes:

Not letting you hang out with your friends
Calling or paging you frequently to find out where you are, who you're with, and what you're doing
Telling you what to wear
Having to be with you all the time
Verbal and emotional abuse includes:
Calling you names;
Jealousy
Belittling you (cutting you down)
Threatening to hurt you, someone in your family, or themselves if you don't do what they want
Physical abuse includes:
Shoving
Punching
Slapping
Pinching
Hitting
Kicking
Hair pulling
Strangling
Sexual abuse includes:
Unwanted touching and kissing
Forcing you to have sex
Not letting you use birth control
Forcing you to do other sexual things
Anyone can be a victim of dating violence. Both boys and girls are victims, but boys and girls abuse their partners in different ways. Girls are more likely to yell, threaten to hurt themselves, pinch, slap, scratch, or kick. Boys injure girls more, are more likely to punch their partner, and more likely to force them to participate in unwanted sexual activity. Some teen victims experience violence occasionally. Others are abused more often, sometimes daily.