Parents: Learn the warning signs of teen dating abuse

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. Dating violence is preventable but requires a community approach to stop it before it starts.

Abuse affects people of all ages, backgrounds and identities, and has a lasting impact on all aspects of life, including social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral health. Education and raising awareness is essential and it should be everyone’s responsibility to stop dating violence.

According to a 1998 article in the American Journal of Public Health, teaching young adults about healthy relationships and ways to avoid dating violence can reduce physical and sexual dating violence by 60 percent.

A number of adults (22.4 percent of women and 15 percent of men) who were victims of rape, physical violence as well as stalking by a dating partner say they first experienced some form of partner violence in their adolescence -- between 11 and 17 years of age.

So there is an invaluable benefit of equipping teenagers with the necessary skills to develop and sustain healthy relationships as well as how to break up or maintain boundaries and build refusal skills in an appropriate manner.

Young adults should learn about acceptable and unacceptable dating behavior. They can learn to recognize the warning signs of dating abuse. An unhealthy relationship is when one partner tries to exert control and power over the other physically, sexually, and/or emotionally.

The most common form of dating violence for teenagers is emotional abuse, which may include the use of social media and technology to stalk, embarrass, isolate, and control.

Parents play a vital role in helping their teenagers learn what is acceptable in a relationship and what is not.

The value of respect and the characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships should be imparted upon young adults before they start to date. Healthy relationships aid teenagers in the development and practice of important skills such as compromise, cooperation, sensitivity and understanding of others’ feelings, and healthy emotional expression.

Start the discussion today with your adolescent. Create a safe and secure place for youth to openly communicate with you about his or her relationships. Helping your child think about the tenets of acceptable behaviors will lead to a relationship intelligent teenager.

Learn the warning signs of dating abuse and start the conversation with your young adult today about how to foster healthy relationships.

Qualities of a healthy or acceptable relationship:

• Mutual respect (values, boundaries)

• Trust

• Honesty

• Compromise

•Individuality

•Good communication

•Anger control

•Fighting fair

•Problem solving

•Understanding

•Self confidence

•Being a role model

•Healthy sexual relationship

Additional help in identifying the signs of

teen dating violence is available at:

• Love Is Respect: www.loveisrespect.org

• National Teen Dating Violence Hotline:

1-866-331-9497 or text “loveis” to 22522

• Military One Source: www.militaryonesource.mil or call 1-800-342-9647

• Fleet & Family Support Center: www.ffsp.navy.mil or visit your local FFSC