Dating violence among adolescents
23-Sep-2019 01:13
Women’s physical health is often relatively high in most settings during adolescence and early adulthood.
At the same time, adolescence and early adulthood is a time of rapid physical, psychological and cognitive changes, stress and experimentation, which can be psychologically taxing and often overwhelming [] as adolescents and young adults are most likely to engage in risky and unhealthy behavior, such as substance abuse, school dropout, eating disorders, high-risk sexual behaviors, lack of physical activity and early pregnancy.
S., HRSA Office of Women's Health; and Ellen Schmidt, B.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been a well examined and documented phenomenon in adults; however, there has not been nearly as much study on violence in adolescent dating relationships, and it is therefore not as well understood.
However, until recently most dating violence research has focused on adult couples or college students, not on adolescents.
Evidence suggests that dating violence among high school students is more widespread than previously believed, and may have serious developmental consequences.
The lifetime prevalence of IPV ranged from 19 to 66 percent among women aged 15 to 24, with most sites reporting prevalence above 50 percent.
Adolescence and early adulthood is an important period in laying the foundation for healthy and stable relationships, and women’s health and well-being overall.Adolescents are especially vulnerable to this form of violence since it may interfere with two tasks that are integral to healthy social development: 1) establishing caring, meaningful relationships, and 2) developing interpersonal intimacy.Adolescents may be at even greater risk than adults for physical and psychological harm given their lack of experience, desire for independence, and reliance on support from inexperienced peers (Callahan, 2003).The research has mainly focused on Caucasian youth, and there are yet no studies which focus specifically on IPV in adolescent same-sex romantic relationships.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) in adolescents is an important realm of study as, in addition to the usual negative effects of abuse, this violence occurs at a critical period in the social and mental development of a person.Although once narrowly conceptualized as involving only physical force, dating violence is now more broadly recognized as a continuum of abuse which can range from incidents of emotional and verbal abuse to rape and murder (Hickman et al, 2004).