February is Dating Violence Awareness Month

  • Published
  • By Chrisan Smith
  • Kirtland AFB Family Advocacy Outreach Manager
KIRTLAND AFB, N.M. --  Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner each year.

One in three teens experiences some kind of abuse in romantic relationships, including verbal and emotional abuse.

Nearly 80 percent of girls who have been physically abused in their intimate relationships continue to date their abuser.

Thirty percent of teens have received as many as 30 texts an hour from partners demanding to know where they are, what they're doing, and who they're with.

Teens in abusive relationships face a variety of obstacles to asking for help. They may have poor relationships with parents, fear of peer response, embarrassment, or a desire to stay in the relationship. They often feel that telling about the abuse, especially to an adult, will result in negative repercussions. He may think he can handle the situation himself, or his friends may tell him he shouldn't let a girl push him around.

These teens are among us, and some are even ours. At training on base last year, three elementary students reported an older sibling had been in an abusive relationship. Through the years, Airmen attending the First Term Airman Center have reported former girlfriends or boyfriends have attempted to stab them and run over them with vehicles. They've reported being hit, threatened, harassed, and physically or emotionally prevented from doing something they wanted to do. They've been stalked, spied on through technology (cell phones and social networking), and forced into sexual encounters they did not want.

It is important that parents, teachers and other adults start talking to tweens/teens about healthy relationships and what to do if they find themselves in an unhealthy one. More importantly, teens need to start talking about this issue and learning how to help their friends.

February is Dating Violence Awareness Month, and a good time to initiate the discussions. Resources are available online at breakthecycle.org and loveisrespect.org, and people can call the Kirtland AFB Family Advocacy Office at 846-0139 for more information.