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What parents and teens need to know to prevent teen dating violence

High school dating experiences can be an important part of growing up. But when teen dating turns violent, it can affect people for life. To launch February’s National Teen Dating Violence Prevention month, community partners are providing resources to help you determine if your teen is at risk.

Teen dating violence is an adverse childhood experience that affects millions of young people nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dating violence may occur in person, online, or through technology. Teen dating violence may include physical violence, sexual violence, psychological aggression, and stalking.

Data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey finds one in 12 high school students experience physical or sexual dating violence.

Female students experience higher rates of dating violence in comparison to their male peers, and those who identify as LGBTQ experience higher rates compared to students who identified as heterosexual. The Maricopa Association of Government’s Regional Domestic Violence Council created a teen dating violence prevention workgroup in 2022 to identify resources in the community to improve these statistics for the region’s youth.

“The consequences of dating violence may have short or long-term negative effects, including depression, anxiety, substance use, antisocial behaviors, and thoughts of suicide,” says Regional Domestic Violence Chair Anita Norton.

In partnership with Bloom365, the Regional Domestic Violence Council will be honoring national Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month during the month of February. Bloom365 trains individuals in partner schools and community organizations to implement and facilitate our primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies to scale impact nationally.

Bloom365, along with teen volunteers, will speak during a series of six webinars during the month. The webinars are for youth, parents, and those who work with youth. They are focused on identifying what teen dating violence is, who is at risk, what tools are available to help those who may be experiencing such violence, how to help perpetrators, and more.

All webinars are at 4 p.m. on the dates below.

The webinars included youth and survivor voices. They have been recorded for future use and are linked below.