Teenage Dating Violence: Etiology and the Role of Prevention

Adolescence represents a time when many changes occur, at all levels: physical, mental, emotional. This is the time when personality is defined and this is why it is important that they do not learn negative behaviors, such as violence is. Adolescence is the state in which teenagers begin to experience a different kind of love, when they fall in love with another person, boy or girl, the time when they start dating. According to the behaviors they have learned in their childhood, their dating relationships could develop normally, or they could experience different problems, such as violence in the couple. The environment in which the teenagers live and develop should offer them the opportunity to develop according to the social norms. The present article emphazises how important it is for teenagers to know the causes and the consequences of violence in the couple, in order to prevent it or to intervene before it causes irreparable damage. Also, the role of prevention is presented in the article, because it is very important that the teeangers, victims and abusers, to know what steps they should follow in order to overcome their problems, which experts they can turn to for help.



Keywords: teen dating violence, adolescence, violence, social problem, prevention programs, support groups