“Breaking the Silence: Empowering Teens to End the Cycle of Violence”

Author: Emma Sheridan

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, a time to talk openly about what dating violence looks like for teens and why it’s so important to address it early. Dating violence isn’t just something that happens to adults. It can happen in middle school and high school relationships, often in ways that are easy to miss or dismiss.

Teen dating violence includes more than physical harm. It can also involve emotional abuse, sexual pressure, and controlling behavior through phones and social media. Constant jealousy, pressure to share passwords, or being made to feel guilty for spending time with friends are common examples. These behaviors are often brushed off as “normal relationship drama,” but they can be serious warning signs.

The reality is that teen dating violence is more common than many people realize. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in twelve high school students reports experiencing physical or sexual dating violence, and emotional abuse happens even more often. These experiences can have lasting effects. Teens who experience dating violence are more likely to struggle with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and problems at school, and these experiences can shape how they view relationships later in life.

It is also important to recognize that teen dating violence does not happen in isolation. Research shows that it is influenced by broader social and structural factors, including gender norms, the normalization of aggression, systemic inequality, and gaps in policies or protections (Adhia et al., 2025). Several conditions can increase the risk of dating violence, such as harmful ideas about control or power in relationships, structural inequalities like racism, heterosexism, and poverty, exposure to violence in families or communities—including online spaces—as well as mental health challenges and substance use. Understanding these root causes helps shift the focus from only responding to violence after it happens to building stronger structural and community supports that can prevent it in the first place.

Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month focuses on education and prevention because healthy relationships are learned. Teaching teens about respect, communication, boundaries, and consent can make a real difference, and many prevention programs focus on helping young people recognize the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships. While these efforts are important, they often place the responsibility on potential victims to identify harm and protect themselves rather than addressing the root causes of abusive behavior. To truly prevent teen dating violence, greater attention must be given to the structural and systemic factors that allow abuse to continue across generations, including harmful societal norms and patterns of power and control. Addressing these root causes, alongside education about healthy relationships, can help shift prevention efforts toward stopping perpetration before it begins. At the same time, awareness helps teens know they are not alone and that support is available. Talking about teen dating violence can feel uncomfortable, but silence allows harmful patterns to continue. By starting conversations, sharing resources, and promoting healthy relationship behaviors, communities can help teens build safer, more supportive relationships now and in the future.

Instead of waiting to respond to teen violence after it happens, we need to start earlier by paying attention to teen mental health. When we measure and actively support mental health, we strengthen protective factors like emotional regulation, stress resilience, and healthy connection to others. Those protective factors lower the risk of teen violence and other issues that often grow out of unmanaged stress and untreated mental health challenges. Prevention works best when it’s proactive. That means identifying mental health needs early and using data to guide evidence-based solutions that build resilience across the 4P’s — Policies, Practices, Programs, and Places (MindArch Health). When schools and communities intentionally strengthen these protective factors, they create environments where respect, safety, and healthy relationships are the norm, not the exception. Instead of simply offering services after problems surface, this approach focuses on equipping teens with the skills to manage emotions, navigate stress, and recognize red flags in relationships before situations escalate.

 Supporting teen mental health is not separate from preventing dating violence, it is the mere foundation. When teens feel supported and protected, they are far more likely to seek help and build relationships rooted in respect rather than control (van den Toren et al, 2019). 

Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Preventing teen dating violence. https://www.cdc.gov/intimate-partner-violence/about/about-teen-dating-violence.html

Exner-Cortens, D., Eckenrode, J., & Rothman, E. (2013). Teen dating violence and mental health outcomes. Pediatrics. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23230075/

Foshee, V. A., et al. (2014). The effectiveness of dating violence prevention programs. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24599482/

van den Toren, S. J., van Grieken, A., Lugtenberg, M., Boelens, M., & Raat, H. (2019). Adolescents’ views on seeking help for emotional and behavioral problems: A focus group study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(1), 191. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17010191