Teen Dating Violence

Teen Dating Violence

It is difficult to say how common dating violence is among teens because different studies and surveys ask about it in different ways and get very different results. Some studies only ask about physical abuse, while others include questions about psychological and emotional abuse and sexual violence. Some ask about dating violence over the lifetime, while others only ask about the current relationship or the past year.

• Past estimates of physical and sexual dating violence among high school students typically range from 10% to 25%, and estimates for college students range from 20% to 30%.^[1]
• One national survey found that about 1 in 10 female high-school students and about 1 in 11 male students said they had been hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend in the past year.^[2]
• More than half (54%) of all female sexual assaults and almost three quarters (71%) of male sexual assaults in the United States occur before the age of 18.
• Roughly one third of all female rapes and one quarter of all male rapes occur between the ages of 12 and 17.^[3]

There is little local data on teen dating violence in King County. One report, however, found that one out of ten Seattle high school youth have been forced into sexual intercourse and about the same percentage of King County 8th grade youth have experienced “unwanted touching.”^[4]  Half of King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) clients are under the age of 18.^[5]

There are a handful of organizations in King County that run programs addressing teen dating violence through outreach, training, prevention and support group programs for male and females adolescents and teens who may be involved in or at risk of dating violence, sexual harassment, and/or assault. In 2005, they provided domestic violence/sexual assault prevention services to 1784 clients in Western Washington.

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