Statistics on Teen Abuse

• A study of public school students in Massachusetts showed approximately one in five female students has experienced physical and/or sexual violence in a dating relationship. (Silverman, Raj, Mucci, Hathaway 2001:574)

• A national telephone survey of 14-17 year olds and parents revealed that nearly 25% of the teens interviewed knew at least one teen that had been a victim of dating violence and 11% knew more than one victim. However, 81% of parents did not know if teen dating violence was an issue or believed it was not an issue. Also, 54% of parents had not talked to their teen about dating violence. (Liz Claiborne/Empower Program, 2000)  

• The Massachusetts study also showed a link between those who report a history of dating violence and other serious health risks behaviors, including substance abuse, unhealthy weight control, sexual risk behavior, pregnancy and suicidality. (Silverman, et.al. 2001:574)  

• Eight percent of high school age girls said “yes” when asked if “a boyfriend or date has ever forced sex against your will.” (The Commonwealth Fund Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls: November 1997)

• Forty percent of girls age 14-17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend. Children Now/Kaiser Permanente poll: December 1995.

• During the 1996-1997 school year there were an estimated 4,000 incidents of rape or other types of sexual assault in public schools across the country. (U.S. Department of Education, Violence and Discipline Problems in U.S. Public Schools: 1996-1997)

• Women of all races are about equally vulnerable to violence by an intimate. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Violence Against Women; Estimates from the Redesigned Survey: August 1995)

• While women are far less likely to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner. From 1993-1998, victimization by an intimate accounted for 22percent of the violence experienced by females. It accounted for three percent of the violent crimes sustained by males. ( U.S. Department of Justice, Intimate Partner Violence: May 2000)

• Nearly one third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, according to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey. (The Commonwealth Fund, Health Concerns Across a Woman’s Lifespan: 1998 Survey of Women’s Health, May 1999)

• In a survey of 256 high school students, 35% reported experiencing violence in dating relationships. (O’Keefe, Brockopp and Chew, 1986)

• Boys who witness domestic violence are more likely to batter their female partners than boys raised in nonviolent homes.

• Date rape accounts for 60% of all reported rapes. The majority of victims are between the ages of 16 and 24. (Ageton, 1983; Newsweek, April 1984)

• If violence occurs once in a dating relationship, it is likely to occur again (similar to married couples). (Sugarman and Hotaling, in Pirog-Good and Stets, 1989)

• ¼ to 1/3 of respondents interpreted violence of their partner as signifying love.

• Nearly 1/3 of female homicide victims are killed by their husbands or boyfriends. (Attorney General’s Task Force on Family Violence Final Report, September 1984)

• Every 18 seconds, a woman in the United States is beaten. A woman is more likely to be assaulted, injured, raped or killed by a male partner than by any other type of assailant. (Dept. of Justice, 1983)

Statisctics gathered from:

Healing and Wholeness: A Resouce Guide on Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community, Edited by Diane Gardsbane, Jewish Women International, 2002.

La Casa de las Madres, website article. www.lacasa.org

Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse , 8/15/91.