Published: November 14, 2008 10:03 am         

Zonta, Family Crisis Center team up to prevent dating violence

A new survey reports that a surprising number of young adolescents are experiencing significant levels of dating violence and abuse.

One in five children between the ages of 13 and 14 say their friends are victims of dating violence and nearly half of all tweens in relationships say they know friends who are verbally abused.

Alarmingly, 40 percent of the youngest tweens, those between the ages of 11 and 12, report that their friends are victims of verbal abuse in relationships and nearly 1 in 10 say their friends have had sex.

A symposium on dating violence, sponsored by the Zonta Club and the Johnson County Family Crisis Center, will be held from 12:30-1:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Cleburne Senior Center.

Presented by the Texas Council on Domestic Violence, the crisis center and public school counselors, the meeting will address the issue of dating violence and how to effectively protect our children from this epidemic issue.

Liz Claiborne Inc. and loveisrespect.org, National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline, commissioned the survey on Tween and Teen dating relationships that was conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited to explore how relationships among young adolescents are fueling high levels of dating violence and abuse.

On July 19, 2007 Texas Governor Rick Perry signed HB 121 requiring all school districts in Texas to adopt formal policies regarding Teen Dating Violence. The law was prompted by the murders of high school students Jennifer Ann Crecente and Ortalla Mosley.

Among the key findings:

Dating relationships begin much earlier than expected

zx Nearly three in four tweens say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger.

zx More than one in three 11-12 year olds say they have been in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.

Surprising levels of abusive behavior reported in tween, ages 11-14, dating relationships.

zx Sixty two percent of tweens who have been in a relationship say they know friends who have been verbally abused — called stupid, worthless, ugly, etc. — by a boyfriend or girlfriend.

zx Two in five tweens who have been in a relationship know friends who have been called names, put down or insulted via cellphone, IM, social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

zx One in five 13-14 year olds in relationships say they know friends and peers who have been struck in anger by a boyfriend or girlfriend.

zx Only half of all tweens claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship.

Significant numbers of teens 15-18 are experiencing emotional and mental abuse as well as violence in their dating relationships; this is even more prevalent among teens that have had sex by the age of 14.

zx More than one in three teens report that their partners wanted to know where they were and who they were with all the time. Among teens who had sex by age 14, it's much higher.

zx Twenty-nine percent of teens say their boyfriends-girlfriends call them names and put them down, compared to 58 percent of teens who had sex by age 14.

zx Twenty-two percent of teens say they were pressured to do things they did not want to do, compared with 45 percent of teens who had sex by age 14.

zx Sixty-nine percent of all teens who had sex by age 14 said they have gone through one or more types of abuse in a relationship.

     

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