Teen Dating Violence

Teen Dating Violence

May 14, 2018

Recent research has shown that a substantial number of women are unfortunately being abused while dating. In fact the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 1 in 4 adolescents have experienced violence or partner abuse. The alarming fact about Teen Dating Violence is that this age group is particularly susceptible and it'll equipped to deal with violent situations.

Teen Dating Violence is actually a subset of intimate partner violence, which is by far the most common form of violence against women. Some people have the mistaken thought that women are attacked by strangers, when in fact this is highly unlikely. Approximately 80 to 90% of all attacks against women are committed by acquaintances that they already know. The generic term for this is intimate partner violence. It is a particularly difficult topic to deal with because the perpetrators are often well-known to the victims.

The reasons for teen Dating Violence often back to issues around self-esteem and control.

Low self-esteem

When a person in a relationship has low self-esteem they often look to control their partner. This stems from the fact that they may not believe enough in themselves or their self-worth. A person in a relationship who is not confident in themselves is more likely to attempt to control their partner through intimidation, fear, force and violence. People, especially young man, who are in their teens tend to have lower self-esteem then those who are older. Their lives are less established and they have less control in general over their circumstances. This lack of self-esteem often leads them to participate in actions that might be not in anyone's interest.

Immaturity

People of a younger age are still developing physically, mentally, and emotionally. The mental and emotional aspects of their development may still be substantially behind their peer group. Quite often women develop these traits earlier than young men. If someone is still immature for their age they may have difficulty communicating and expressing themselves, and they may not have the ability to control their responses to complex emotions like attraction, jealousy, and love.

Upbringing

We tend to assume that other people have been raised like we have and have the same set of social skills that we do. This is obviously not true and is unique to each person's circumstances. If a person was not raised well with the proper understanding and context of how to treat other people and how to express themselves through means other than violence they may act out their emotions in unexpected ways.

Peer pressure

When people reach a certain age their upbringing is often influenced more by the people they associate themselves with than their parents. if someone is surrounded by people who are pressuring them to behave a certain way or to exert a certain level of control, even if it goes against their own beliefs, they may end up succumbing to this pressure. The unfortunate outcome could be violence against their partners.

Inexperience

Like any other endeavor, dating can take time to figure out. When someone is first starting out dating they may not understand the complexities of relationships or how messy they can become. They may not understand the emotional toll that it can take on themselves and other people. They may have preconceived notions of what a relationship is like and how their partner should behave. When these expectations are not met or utterly obliterated, combined with elements that we talked about above, they may take unfortunate actions against their partner.

One of the main things that both parents and teens need to understand is that violence at this age is not uncommon. As mentioned above as many as one in four teens experience violence while dating. When you think about the sheer numbers of people this could represent you begin to understand why this problem needs to have a certain amount of seriousness and attention paid to it.