Group 6 Copy 74
0

The Problem

Just how widespread is the problem of teen dating violence? We asked 125 high school freshmen in our target school about their experiences with dating and dating violence. Almost 70% of freshmen had dated at least one partner, and, as illustrated in the figure above, dating violence within the sample is depressingly common. This is particularly true of emotional violence, though significant numbers experienced physical and sexual violence as well. The prevalence of emotional violence is not surprising. Controlling and emotionally abusive behavior is often normalized and romanticized in popular culture (see, for example, the entire Twilight series.) Of course, in real life emotional abuse is not only damaging on its own; it is also often a precursor to physical and sexual abuse. Ultimately, these are the behaviors that we are trying to prevent, and it starts by teaching students to reject dating violence and not simply see it as "normal relationship drama."

0 comments

Join the conversation!Sign In

About This Project

Sexual, physical, and emotional violence destroy lives. Our program is designed to attack this problem as dating relationships and relationship patterns are first formed in adolescence. To prove effective a program must have a long-lasting impact. While our program has demonstrable positive effects, its long term impact is yet to be determined. We will study students through all 4 years of high school to gauge the efficacy of anti-violence education and better understand relationship development.

More Lab Notes From This Project

Blast off!

Browse Other Projects on Experiment

Related Projects

Developing an Affordable Plant Research Platform using the Farmbot (automated farming robot)

Phlox is highly susceptible to powdery mildew, impacting plant health and increasing fungicide use. While...

Developing low cost vacuum pump to make electron microscope accessible to kids in classrooms

This project, part of a larger project at PrakashLab, aims to make scanning electron microscopy (SEM) accessible...

A New System For Biology Education

We are developing an apprenticeship based learning system for biology education to enable students to accelerate...

Campaign Ended

An education project funded by 28 people

Add a comment