They begin by defining and discussing psychological and emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse.
As any parent knows, it can be difficult to communicate with your teen, especially when it comes to a sensitive topic like dating violence.
Perhaps you’re not quite sure what to say, or maybe your teen doesn’t seem to want to talk.
However, teens use a range of terms to characterize their romantic relationships; common terms include—hanging out, hooking up, going out, crushing, flirting, seeing, etc.
Try not to let the differences in language keep you from being on the same page in talking with your kids about these relationships.
A study of these behaviors commissioned by the AAUW Education Foundation in 2001 found that 8 out of 10 students experienced sexual harassment at some point in their school lives.
The AAUW Education Foundation (2001) study defines sexual harassment in this way: In the past many institutions have had a somewhat casual attitude about sexual harassment understanding those behaviors as harmless flirting, or as “kids being kids”.
Definitions We use the phrase “teen dating violence” (TDV) because that is the language generally used by advocates and the public health community to describe abusive and controlling behaviors in adolescent relationships.
We use the term for the sake of consistency in sharing common language, but there are few important points to be made about this phrase…
It’s important to note that we are down on abusive relationships, not on all relationships.
We understand that relationships for adolescents fulfill many of the same roles that adult relationships fulfill—conferring social connections and status, friendship, and affection.