ISSUES
: Domestic Violence
Chapter 1: Domestic violence
18
The issue of violence in teenage
relationships
Violence in adolescent relationships is a growing concern for many. Expert Mark Bowles
examines the evidence, prevalence and impact of this kind of violence on young people –
and looks at what schools can do to play their part in tackling the problem.
V
iolence
in
romantic
relationships has been long
thought to be an adult issue.
However, significant evidence
from the US exists in relation to
its prevalence within adolescent
relationships and an understanding
of its impact is building in the UK.
Because domestic violence is often
perceived as an adult issue, the
focus of most research has been on
adults and the impact of domestic
abuse on their wider families
1 2
. More
recently, intimate partner violence
among young people has been
highlighted as “an understudied area
of maltreatment in the UK” and this
omission has significantly hampered
the development of theoretical
understanding
and
effective
prevention programmes
3
.
Given
the
understanding
of
adolescence
as
a
critical
developmental period and the
substantial amount of research in
relation to adolescence, it is surprising
that so little is known about this social
problem of violence in adolescent
intimate relationships.
Young people involved in dating
violence are at higher risk of further
violence in future relationships, riskier
sexual behaviour
4
and increased
rates of substance use and eating
disorders
5
.
1
Children’s Perspectives on Domestic Violence
, Mullender et
al (2002).
2
Domestic Violence: Making it through the criminal justice
system
, University of Sunderland and the Northern Rock
Foundation; Hester, M (2006).
3
Dating Violence Among Adolescents Article: Prevalence,
Gender Distribution, and Prevention Program Effectiveness
,
Hickman et al (2004).
4
Dating Violence Among Urban, Minority, Middle School
Youth and Associated Sexual Risk Behaviors and Substance
Use
, Lormand, Donna et al, Journal of School Health 83.6
(2013).
5
Dating Violence Against Adolescent Girls and Associated
Substance Use, Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk
Behavior, Pregnancy, and Suicidality
, Silverman JG, Raj A,
Mucci LA, Hathaway JE, Journal of the American Medical
Association (2001).
Prevalence
Although a substantive body of UK
evidence exists on adult women’s,
and to a lesser extent children’s,
experiences of domestic violence
1 2
,
we know little about teenagers’ own
experiences of partner violence. Most
of the empirical evidence on teenage
partner violence is derived from US
studies.
These findings suggest that boys
and girls use similar levels of physical
and emotional violence towards their
partners
6
, resulting in propositions
that teenage partner violence
demonstrates a greater degree of
gender symmetry compared to adult
domestic violence where women are
predominantly the victim.
However, research also shows
that girls are more likely to be the
recipient of serious physical and
sexual violence than boys. In addition,
while both boys and girls use verbal
violence and control mechanisms, the
impact of these on girls appears to be
much greater than on boys
7
.
Rates of relationship abuse vary
according to age, sex and previous
experience of violence
8
. The
prevalence of relationship violence is
higher in adolescents than in adults,
with females aged 12 to 18 years
having the highest victimisation rate
9
.
Approximately 20 per cent of young
women have experienced violence
from a dating partner
10
and first
episodes of violence frequently occur
in adolescence
11
.
6
Adolescent Dating Violence: Do adolescents follow in their
friends’, or their parents’, footsteps?
, Foshee et al (2004).
7
“If It Hurts You, Then It Is Not a Joke”: Adolescents’ ideas
about girls’ and boys’ use and experience of abusive behavior
in dating relationships
, Sears et al (2006).
8
An Evaluation of Safe Dates, an Adolescent Dating Violence
Prevention Program
, Foshee et al (1998).
9
Domestic Violence: Findings from a new British Crime Survey
self-completion questionnaire
, Home Office (1999).
10
Teen Dating Violence
, O’Keefe, Brockopp, Chew (1986).
11
Romance and Violence in Dating Relationships
, Henton et
al (1983).
The NSPCC has tried to bridge this
gap in the UK evidence-base in
part through its 2009 paper
Partner
exploitation and violence in teenage
intimate relationships
12
.
This multi-method study collected
survey responses from 1,353 young
people aged between 13 and 17 and
conducted qualitative interviews with
62 girls and 29 boys. It found that 18
per cent of boys and 25 per cent of
girls reported some form of physical
partner violence.
While limited in its size, this study
does indicate that adolescent dating
violence is a potentially significant
child welfare problem in the UK.
Terminology
Most of the US and wider international
literature has adopted the term
‘dating’ to describe this area of work.
However, this terminology does not
transfer well to the UK context, as
young people do not use or recognise
this term.
In addition, ‘dating’ seems to imply
a degree of formality which does
not necessarily reflect the diverse
range of young people’s intimate
encounters and relationships. Experts
have argued that research needs
to reflect the fluidity of teenage
relationships, producing typologies
to describe different teenage intimate
encounters
13
.
Researchers also warn that teenagers
use specific terms such as ‘hanging
out’, ‘hooked up’, ‘being sprung’ and
‘being friends with privileges’, and
that such terms undoubtedly vary
by county, region, gender, age and
ethnicity
3
.
Also, there are clear problems when
12
Partner Exploitation and Violence in Teenage Intimate
Relationships
, NSPCC (2009):
13
Dating Experiences of Bullies in Early Adolescence
,
Connolly et al, Child Maltreatment (2000); Making Meaning of
Relationships: Young women’s experiences and understandings
of dating violence. Chung, D (2007).
