Nearly 1 out of 11 U.S. high school students is subjected to physical violence from their boyfriend or girlfriend each year, the results of a nationwide survey suggest.
Boys are just as likely as girls to be the victim of such violence, according to a report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In response to these findings, the CDC is launching "Choose Respect," a program to prevent dating violence and foster the early development of attitudes, behaviors and skills that help form healthy, respectful relationships.
The initiative, to be conducted in 10 cities during the summer of 2006, will be directed at adolescents between 11 and 14 years. The activities and materials will include online games, podcasts, videos, posters, and public service announcements.
For the study, Dr. M. C. Black, from the National Center for Injury Prevention, and colleagues analyzed data from the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which included students in grades 9 through 12 from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
A total of 14,956 students from 158 schools answered the question, "During the past 12 months, did your boyfriend or girlfriend ever hit, slap, or physically hurt you on purpose?"
Their responses showed that 8.9 percent of boys and 8.8 percent of girls reported physical victimization. Based on these findings, the authors estimate that nearly 1.5 million high school students in the U.S. experienced physical dating violence in 12 months before the survey.
Dating violence was more common among blacks (13.9 percent) and Hispanics (9.3 percent) than whites (7.0 percent).
Those who had experience physical dating violence, compared with their peers who had not, were 3.3 times more likely to have attempted suicide and 1.7 times more likely to have engaged in fighting during the previous year.
Having five or more alcoholic drinks or smoking on at least 1 of the previous 30 days was associated with dating violence, as was engaging in sexual intercourse during the previous 3 months.
"Adolescents need encouragement, examples, and guidance from parents, schools, and communities about how to relate to other people," Dr. Ileana Arias, director of the CDC's National Center for Injury and Violence Prevention, states in a CDC press release. "Not only do such efforts reduce the number of immediate injuries, they can improve the overall health and well-being of our nation's children."
