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Seventh-grade students have experienced alarming rates of physical violence at the hands of a romantic partner, including being shoved, grabbed, hit or kicked, a survey of middle schoolers showed on Thursday.
Nearly one in six of 1,430 students surveyed, most of whom were just 12 years old, said they had experienced physical dating violence in the past six months, while more than one in three had witnessed such violence among their peers.
Moreover, nearly a quarter said they had a friend who was violent to their partner, and a similar proportion strongly disagreed that hitting their girlfriend or boyfriend would lead to a break-up.
"Society doesn't think about these behaviors happening among middle schoolers," Shari Miller, lead researcher at RTI International, which conducted the survey, told Reuters, describing the results as "definitely alarming".
"We don't even think about them dating, never mind experiencing dating violence," she added.
Read More: One in six seventh graders are victims of dating violence: survey - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/one-six-seventh-graders-victims-dating-violence-survey-194924808.html - broken link)
I just can't get my head into calling them "partners" - they're seventh-graders, for god's sake! They should be playing video games and watching SpongeBob!
ETA: From the report on Yahoo -
Quote:
The survey, which researchers said was not a nationally representative sample, was conducted in schools in California, Connecticut, Indiana and Michigan. It has a margin of error of 2.6 percent.
The stats are alarming but nothing new.
Back when I was a DV advocate we had to incorporate a teen violence program...
While we mostly dealt with Highschool age children it was scary how many presentations we did county wide had many teenage girls coming forward and stating that they had been victims of DV.
I agree somewhat with the poster that stated it is a parenting problem although sometimes we haveto remember how DV and the cycle of violence works.
Mothers too often suffer from "Battered woman's syndrome" and it is more complex that it seems on the surface.
I am sure many people including myself have stated "Get out if only for your children" It is not that easy.
Often times the obstacles that women face are the following;
Threats from the batterer. The batterer often times threatens to harm the children should the mother try to flee
Threatens the mother after she has left that if they do not come back when he finds them he will kill them all.
The mother while trying to protect the children from seeing the worst of the abuse forgets that the children do see and here some of it
Mothers are often so isolated from family, friends and no longer work due to the batterer have no means to leave and feel stuck.
For some women this is "normal" behavior that they themselves grew up in
Domestic Violence is inter-generational. A high percentage of survivors have been raised in an environment where DV was prevalent in the home, for them? This is normal
A high percentage of male batterers have grown in up in environments where dv was prevalent in the home and the batterer has validated the behavior as "keeping mom in her place" or "if mom just did what I asked this would not happen, she makes me hurt her."
Often times children will exist in a family where not only DV is present but child abuse as well.
The coalition against Domestic Violence has observed this within the last couple of decades therefore bringing about much needed programs such as "teens against dv"
Not only does my former agency do presentations county wide we also implement "open forums" for teens ( support groups) where teens are among their peers and discussions can take place. There are also separate support groups for teen males.
This just in, nearly 2 in every 3 BOYS is a victim of 'dating' violence by the time they are in thrid grade. It seems that girls think it is a good idea to punch or shove boys they are intrested in while on the playground...
Just read the article and I don't think you find too much to be alarmed over based on how it was done, the sample size used and what they lumped into "violence", which in their estimation also included harassment via social media. Basically, the survey considered 'violence' as being both physical and mental, anything from punches and shoves to dirty jokes and harassing messages on Facebook. Of course, the way the opening line is written it makes it sound like 7th graders are out there beating their boyfriends and girlfriends to a pulp and finding it all acceptable.
This just in, nearly 2 in every 3 BOYS is a victim of 'dating' violence by the time they are in thrid grade. It seems that girls think it is a good idea to punch or shove boys they are intrested in while on the playground...
Just read the article and I don't think you find too much to be alarmed over based on how it was done, the sample size used and what they lumped into "violence", which in their estimation also included harassment via social media. Basically, the survey considered 'violence' as being both physical and mental, anything from punches and shoves to dirty jokes and harassing messages on Facebook. Of course, the way the opening line is written it makes it sound like 7th graders are out there beating their boyfriends and girlfriends to a pulp and finding it all acceptable.
LOL at the 1st line...
Really, how many 11 and 12 year olds are actually dating and in relationships that include sex and violence? It's not impossible, but I doubt if it's very common. Makes me wonder, like NJGOAT said, are they including hair pulling, pushing and shoving in the equation of violence? Are check-the-box notes now considered sexual harassment and stalking?
Studies like this really need to be taken with a grain of salt.
It's sickening but doesn't surprise me. People need to make an effort to teach their kids right from wrong and counteract the effect the media and peer pressure has on younger kids.
I was just curious though; is this "violence" always at the hands of other kids their age or older kids/adults? It'd be interesting if somebody researched that.
Seventh-grade students have experienced alarming rates of physical violence at the hands of a romantic partner, including being shoved, grabbed, hit or kicked, a survey of middle schoolers showed on Thursday.
Nearly one in six of 1,430 students surveyed, most of whom were just 12 years old, said they had experienced physical dating violence in the past six months, while more than one in three had witnessed such violence among their peers.
Moreover, nearly a quarter said they had a friend who was violent to their partner, and a similar proportion strongly disagreed that hitting their girlfriend or boyfriend would lead to a break-up.
"Society doesn't think about these behaviors happening among middle schoolers," Shari Miller, lead researcher at RTI International, which conducted the survey, told Reuters, describing the results as "definitely alarming".
"We don't even think about them dating, never mind experiencing dating violence," she added.
Read More: One in six seventh graders are victims of dating violence: survey - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/one-six-seventh-graders-victims-dating-violence-survey-194924808.html - broken link)
There shouldn't be dating in 7th grade imo. Parents need to only allow group situations until much older...H.S. sophomore or older imo. Educate your children as to what is acceptable behavior...and the most critical piece of parenting is keep the communication open.....model good choices for your children. Don't always have the prent type discussion...sometimes just do things w/ your child....even if it isn't something you would like to do....make sure they know how much you love them, and care about them. That is their best defense in any situation....it will be in their minds at that critical moment...My Mom /Dad loves me, I can go to them w/ this problem.
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