Love is Respect: Working to promote awareness of healthy and safe relationships

The keys to teen dating violence prevention are awareness and early intervention. This includes teaching teens and preteens healthy relationship skills and promoting protective factors that can support positive youth development.

Results from the 2021 Arizona Youth Risk Behavioral Survey (YRBS), showed female high school students experienced more sexual violence events when compared to males. When asked if they had ever experienced sexual violence, 22.9% of females responded yes, compared to only 5% of males. 

Results from the YRBS Survey conducted in 2022 show that 5.8% of 12th grade students reported having experienced teen dating violence at least one time. 

Why is this data important?

About 1 in 12 high school students in the United States have experienced physical or sexual dating violence. Violence, intimidation, and fear whether perpetrated in person or online can upend the lives of young people during some of their most formative years and have lifelong consequences. Survivors of teen dating violence are more likely to suffer from symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma. Experiencing an unhealthy or abusive relationship as a teen can increase a young person’s risk of facing violence in intimate relationships throughout their lives.

Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month (TDVAM) is recognized in February and it aims to break the cycle of violence by urging young people and their loved ones to come together to raise awareness. By talking about these issues with our kids, we can better prepare them for what they may experience in social situations, address the risks, and discuss how to respond or react to a difficult situation.

Let’s create a culture in which violence is not tolerated in our relationships, families, or communities and put an end to teen dating violence. You can wear orange to show solidarity with young people and to support healthy relationships.

If you or someone you know is in an unhealthy relationship, please connect with the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline where help is available.