A new survey of young people ages 14-21 by the Center for Innovative Public Health Research in San Clemente, Calif., and the University of New Hampshire shows that 9% admitted to using sexual violence such as forced kissing, sexual touching or intercourse. The study, published in the Oct.7, 2013 issue of JAMA Pediatrics, surveyed 1,058 people. Coercive tactics such as arguing, pressuring or making the victim feel guilty were most used by perpetrators.
Another disturbing trend was that half of perpetrators blamed their victim for the sexual violence: “Because victim blaming appears to be common while perpetrators experiencing consequences is not, there is urgent need for high school (and middle school) programs aimed at supporting bystander intervention.”
Intervention and speaking out are vitally important to our mission at DASH. We ask everyone to take our pledge: Dating Abuse Stops Here, with me. I will not accept it, I will not perpetrate it and I will speak out if I see it happening. By making others aware of teen dating abuse we can help to reverse these disturbing statistics.
Read the entire article at Live Science.
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