Teen dating violence is the control of one teenage partner over the other teenage partner in the form of emotional, verbal, physical and/or sexual abuse. These abusive behaviors are are purposefully used by one teenager to hurt and control their partner. Emotional abuse is the verbal behavior that harms a person's self-esteem and causes shame. Physical abuse is the behavior and any action which causes physical pain or injury. Sexual abuse is any unwanted sexual advance or contact.

Emotional Abuse examples:

Physical Abuse examples:

Sexual Abuse examples:

Examples of Teen Dating Violence:

15 year old Sue was interested in a guy at school. She thought Mark was pretty neat. He was good looking. Everybody liked him. He seemed to like her, although she wasn't sure. He would come up to her at lunch when she was with her girlfriends. He would interrupt them and expect Sue to go with him. She always did. She didn't want to cause a scene, and she was flattered. One evening Mark called and asked her to go to a party. At the party Sue had a hard time getting Mark to leave. He just wouldn't listen. When he took her home they started kissing. Then he got pretty insistent. Sue tired to tell him to stop, but he didn't even answer her. As she silently struggled, he forced her to have sex. Sue felt she had been raped, but wasn't sure. When it was over, Mark asked her what was wrong? She couldn't believe it. As if he didn't know.

Sara was dating a boy from school. They had fun together most of the time, but Sara worried about some of the things he did. If she talked to other boys, he got very jealous. When he was angry, he called her names. Last time he got mad, he grabbed her arm and pushed her into the locker. It really scared her.