Teenage dating violence is very common in the early stages of the pre-teenage years, or between 6th to 9th grades. "Dating violence, including sexual abuse, has been found to begin as early as in the seventh grade.(Hokoda,2011:#351) Dating violence can come from teenagers who have been surrounded by the background of abuse from their parent relationships or who their peers may be. Relationship abuse may be surrounded by a foundation in cyber bullying, commonly associated with negative emotional, physical, social and academic consequences, such as depression, substance use and school failure. Dating violence, defined as "any attempt to control or dominant another person physically, sexually, psychologically, resulting in harm (Voltz at el, 2000: #587) Relationships whether it is a dating or friendship should maintain a healthy connection. In a middle school aged adolescent many changes are happening inside the body as well as the outside, the changes may make the child feel uncomfortable with him or herself. Often times turning to another peer and judging them may make the individual feel better about themselves. When an adolescent is personally trying to identify him or herself it causes a higher risk of violence with one peer to another. Teen dating violence is preventable if it is talked about in the right way. Dating violence in middle school aged children has increased over time and shows a decrease rate, as the teens get older. When communication skills and maturity levels are gaining, violence tends to diminish for the most part. A child who is educated on the consequences of violence often times do not promote the violence. I chose this topic because I feel as though it is a very important topic to be brought up about and I feel as though many people do not realize how serious dating violence can be and how often it does happen. I was never a victim of a violent situation in a relationship but I have had a bad ending to a relationship where my ex boyfriend was not ready for the relationship to end and actually became crazy and tried to self-harm himself.
