Adolescent Dating Violence Research

Research demonstrates adolescent dating violence is neither rare nor unique to any particular region of the world and is prevalent for both boys and girls (WHO, Foshee etal;2013 & Reyes, 2011; O’Leary et al; 2008; Ball & 2008Munoz-Rivas et al2007 inFoshee, WHO). However, as Ball (2008) noted there are fundamental problems in asserting gender parity regarding relationship violence particularly when sexual violence is considered. Males report more perpetration of sexual violence and females report higher rates of victimisation. In addition, it has been reported that self-defence accounts for a substantial amount of physical violence perpetrated by girls (Molidor et al; 2000 in Ball; Sears). For example, girls’ use of psychologically or physically abusive behaviour may emerge as a response to conflict in light of changes in physical strength and social roles that occur with the onset of adolescence. In contrast, boys’ use of this behaviour may reflect a perceived need for peer status and/or the loss of physically abusive behaviour as an acceptable option for establishing control ( Sears et al., …show more content…
Studies also report that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are at higher risk for all types of dating violence victimization (and nearly all types of dating violence perpetration), compared to heterosexual youth (Dank et al;