Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and it's an excellent time to discuss healthy relationships with the Mighty Girls in your life. Abuse occurs in 1 in 10 adolescent relationships and appears to be on the rise as cell phones and social media are increasingly used for harassment.
The National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline reports that the majority of their calls come from girls seeking help in responding to relentless texting or efforts by boys to control their behavior. As Dr. Elizabeth Miller, an expert on teen relationship abuse, explains, the situation among teens is complicated by the fact that “few adolescents understand what a healthy relationship looks like.” Teens often interpret warning signs of unhealthy relationships such as excessive attention as expressions of love.
In this post, we've provided a series of resources and recommended reading where you can learn more about the issue of teen relationship abuse as well as information on where teens can turn to find help for themselves or their friends.
A wonderful resource to share with teens is the website LoveIsRespect.org, a collaboration of the National Dating Abuse Helpline and Break the Cycle. The site offers lots of information geared towards teens about fostering healthy relationships, warning signs of abuse, and how to get help if they or their friends are experiencing abuse or have questions.
A Mighty Girl features a collection of books for children and youth about girls and women grappling with abuse and violence in their lives. These stories provide an excellent opportunity to raise the topic of relationship violence with teens and discuss how to foster healthy relationships.
This excellent article from the NY Times, A Rise in Efforts to Spot Abuse in Youth Dating, summarizes the trends on dating violence among adolescents and shares several teens' personal stories.
A second, more recent article, A Warning to Teenagers Before They Start Dating, discusses a program in Boise, Idaho focused on teaching teens about healthy relationships and dating violence.
