LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, a national effort to raise awareness and protect young people.
This year’s theme for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month is “Love is Setting Boundaries.”
All teenagers need to know how to answer two questions: What is love? What is a healthy relationship?
More than one out of every 10 teens who have been on a date in the past year have been physically abused.
Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner each year; one in three adolescents in the United States is a victim of physical, sexual, verbal or emotional abuse from a dating situation.
Girls and young women between the ages of 16 to 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence – almost triple the national average – and 81 percent of parents surveyed either believe teen dating violence is not an issue or admit they don’t know if it’s an issue.
Violent relationships in teens can have serious ramifications. Victims are put at higher risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, risky sexual behavior and further domestic violence.
Teen dating violence runs across race, gender and socioeconomic lines. Both males and females can be victims, and both males and females can be abusers.
Family advocates at Lake Family Resource Center believe there is a need to build communities with commitment to safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments, and to raise understanding and awareness about teen dating violence, with the ultimate goal being to stop it before it begins.
Lake Family Resource Center encourages teens and parents to speak out, become educated, be heard and be a part of making Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month's message effective.
If you are or someone you know is in an abusive dating relationship, free and confidential help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the Community Crisis Hotline, at 888-485-7733.
Lake Family Resource Center works to raise awareness of the devastation that results from domestic violence.
The agency provides a multitude of services to build family stability and strength, and supports Lake County residents in achieving stable, self-sufficient and healthy families and communities.
For more information call 707-279-0563.
February marked as Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month
- Lake County News reports
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