NEW
YORK: About 3% of 12- to 17-year-old girls are physically or sexually assaulted
by a boyfriend or date, a US study
suggests.
In interviews with a
nationally representative sample of US teens, researchers found that 2.7% of
girls and 0.6% of boys said they had been the victim of serious dating violence
- including physical abuse, sexual assault or being threatened with a
weapon.
The findings offer some
insight into the prevalence of the problem, as well as some of its consequences,
according to lead researcher Kate B Wolitzky-Taylor who is now at the University
of Texas at Austin.
She and her
colleagues at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, found that
teenagers who said they'd been the victims of dating violence were nearly four
times more likely to have experienced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) or major depression.
The
study did not look at less-severe forms of violence, such as being shoved or
slapped without injury, and did not assess verbal abuse. So the percentage of
teens in abusive relationships may be
higher.
The bottom line,
according to the researchers, is that dating violence needs to be detected early
- by parents, doctors or school assessment - and prevented whenever possible.
Teaching middle school students how to handle conflicts in their relationships
might help them later on to manage relationships. In addition, Taylor said
teens, who have a friend in a violent relationship, should be taught to report
the situation to an adult.