Talk:Teen dating violence

Gender-Neutrality
This article has wording in it that could be viewed as offensive, especially the "Characteristics" section which needs to be rewritten or removed. The wording implies that violence only happens in heterosexual couples with the male partner as the aggressor. I'd change it myself but I don't really know the style rules, and I don't have time for it. If someone does it would be great for them to change it. ΔΡΦ (talk) 17:13, 12 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Absolutely agree. Unfortunately when the article had the gender-neutral pronouns it was changed by some well-meaning (and possibly some not-so-well-meaning) editors.


 * Today I have tried to fix up a number of things with this article and if there aren't a number of reverts I will work on this again in the near future. I had written the original article some time ago (2007 or 2008) but at that time there was much lower awareness of the issue of teen dating violence and edits made it into a colossal mess.


 * If there is a way to semi-protect an article so that only recognized experts can edit then I would nominate this article for that status! I imagine that I'm not the only expert in this field who does not want to feel like my time spent here has been wasted. 99.127.213.9 (talk) 23:47, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

Proposed Merger into Dating Abuse Article
Ok, the majority of comments here view this page as not meeting Wikipedia standards. I agree. So I am proposing the page be merged with the general Dating abuse page. There isn't any need for this to be a stand-alone page. I am adding the merge tag to the article, please discuss it here. Thanks. KPalicz (talk) 14:44, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

That would make sense. I looked at the target article, and it could use some work too. But both essentially address the same issue. Repetition is quite pointless. MrKevin1a (talk) 16:17, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

SUPPORT. There's no reason to consider dating violence amongst teens as different from amongst adults. MaxHarmony (talk) 21:17, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Ok, no one has objected to the proposed merger. I added some of the better content from this page into the dating abuse article and tried to overall improve on the quality of the dating abuse article. I have now set the teen dating violence page to redirect. KPalicz (talk) 20:36, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Previous content identified some of the distinctions between "teen dating violence" and other IPV. That content follows: Polls in the United States and scientific studies from around the world (see "statistics" section below) show that substantial portions of teenagers have perpetrated and/or experienced dating violence. However, most parents do not recognize teen dating violence as a significant problem. While there are many similarities between dating violence amongst teens and amongst adults, there are also some differences:
 * Teens are much more likely than adults to become isolated from their peers as the result of controlling behavior by their boyfriend/girlfriend;
 * For many teens the abusive relationship may be their first dating experience and have never had a "normal" dating experience with which to compare it;


 * Teens are not likely to be financially dependent on their romantic partners; and
 * Teens are not as likely to have children that they must care for with their romantic partners.

24.126.193.118 (talk) 17:23, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Encyclopedic?
This reads like an "informational" pamphlet. Someone edit or delete please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.255.132.51 (talk) 20:16, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

There's something about this that makes me think it isn't up to Wikipedia standards. I have no idea what it is though, so I'm not going to edit it. 82.4.36.18 (talk) 03:00, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, this article has several issues. Probably the most significant is capitalization: why "Teen Dating Violence" instead of "Teen dating violence"? I'm going to fix something else with a "wikification" edit, in the meantime. fudo (questions?) 16:09, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

I agree with 96.255.132.51, this seems more like something you could find on an informational pamphlet or in a gossip magazine than an encyclopedic entry.85.229.50.111 (talk) 00:58, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Defiently agree with above comments. Maybe a rewrite of the artical or deeper discussion into some of the points in this artical. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.16.225.80 (talk) 01:48, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

The first couple of sentences are disturbing. Telling people not to partake in this activity - not very encyclopaedic at all. I think this article should be deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.220.255.240 (talk) 12:13, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

"Abuse" and "Violence" Different
The article does not clearly deal with the fact that abuse is NOT a form of violence, in fact the opposite is true. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.68.216.179 (talk) 01:09, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * The title is violence, yet the article mentions many other kind of abuse. There must be many examples of teen relationships which do not involve violence, but are still very abusive. F W Nietzsche (talk) 06:22, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Reasons and distribution
The article fails to explain why it is so common, and what enables the perpetrators to facilitate and get away with their behavior. One factor must be that many parents simply don't care about their kids, and hence don't stop their sons / daughters from being targeted by controlling abusers - there are many parents who are so uncaring and preoccupied with selfish / trivial crap that they don't even notice what is happening to their own child. There must be victims of both genders and all orientations. Do the perpetrators target victims who are younger, weaker, poorer, of lower status than them? Are previously abused teens more vulnerable to being abused in such a way? F W Nietzsche (talk) 06:34, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

While you raise some interesting questions, you unfortunately also make a blanket statement that is at best unsupported, and likely to be offensive to many.

"One factor must be that many parents simply don't care about their kids, and hence don't stop their sons / daughters from being targeted by controlling abusers - there are many parents who are so uncaring and preoccupied with selfish / trivial crap that they don't even notice what is happening to their own child."

In essence you lay blame at the feet of the parents of the victims while common sense dictates that it's instead the parents of the abusers that likely guided (through omission or commission) the actions resulting in abuse. Why fault victims rather than perpetrators? I find this to be both unsettling and counterproductive.

131.96.187.18 (talk) 22:52, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

This is original research, so I can't cite it in the article, but maybe someday I'll do a scientific study on this, and then one of you can cite it in the article. When I was a teenager, the only reason that girls ever gave for rejecting me was to say, "You're a nice guy." Then these girls would have long term relationships with guys who treated them badly, and they would tell me all about it. "I've been dating him for six months now. He's such a jerk. He's so mean to me. I wish he was nice to me like you are." Girls like to date guys who are mean to them. They say they want a nice guy, but their actions show they are lying. This is how the world ends up with 40 year old virgins, which I will be in two years. Grundle2600 (talk) 21:56, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Worldwide view
I'm from the UK and have never heard of 'teen dating violence'. All the references and statistics in this article are American, which, if you'll excuse me to make a generalisation, suggests this is purely an American problem. Can sources on this issue be found from other countries? --128.243.253.113 (talk) 17:37, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Two references from the UK if somebody would like to work on adding these to the article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/mar/21/ukcrime.children

http://www.thehideout.org.uk/default.aspa

131.96.185.207 (talk) 18:29, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
 * A made-up American problem. Delete. Possibly recreate as a neutral article. 86.27.225.56 (talk) 01:35, 30 March 2009 (UTC)


 * First, if the problem is indeed an "American problem" then it is obviously not made-up, perhaps you intended to say that it is isolated instead of made-up? Second, in any case it is not isolated to the United States.  Also, what about the article isn't neutral?  Drew30319 (talk) 21:54, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Pathetic treatment of a serious issue
It's disappointing to see this topic treated so poorly by the wikipedia community. Abuse and violence in teenage relationships is a serious problem. Acquaintance rape (which accounts for 70-90% of all rapes) is most commonly done by an abusive romantic partner and teenagers are the most vulnerable to this form of abuse. There are literally over a thousand articles discussing this problem when querying with Ebsco (primarily in the SocIndex database). This isn't some obscure cultural problem that only afflicts a handful of teens either. The problem is many do not see emotionally abusive relationships as a bad thing (or even as healthy) so it doesn't receive the attention of other problems. I urge the wikipedia community to write an article on this topic that demonstrates how serious of a problem this is.O76923 (talk) 23:30, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

Agreed and any assistance in adding more material would be greatly appreciated. Drew30319 (talk) 21:48, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

A lot of girls enjoy rejecting nice guys, and dating bad guys who abuse them, and complaining to the nice guys about how the bad guys abuse them. Maybe it goes back to the cavemen days, because the bad guys would steal food from the nice guys. A girl wants a breeding partner who will increase the chances of her own children being well fed, so maybe this is why girls like to reject nice guys, and date bad guys who abuse them. Grundle2600 (talk) 22:01, 5 June 2009 (UTC)


 * While entitled to your opinion, it isn't appropriate for inclusion. If you have sources for what you're stating then it could be included.  And here's some unsolicited advice:  you'll find more happiness by focusing on finding someone that appreciates you for who you are - and let the "bad guy / nice guy" thing go.  "Nice guys don't finish last, they're simply running a different race." 24.126.193.118 (talk) 02:52, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Not Encyclopedic
This Article seems not to follow any of wikipedia's rules, It is not a factual article, it is a pamphlet quoting pamphlets, this is an issue page and not a facts page therefore I am recommending deletion. SPACKlick (talk) 16:53, 18 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I wouldn't object (and even recommend) to AFD this page and merge some of it's content in the Dating violence article since it has no merit as a stand alone article as the differences on the subject don't vary much. As a matter of fact, I find it somehow "silly" not to merge the notable substance and delete this one.--The Magnificent Clean-keeper (talk) 18:57, 2 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Not sure how you define "factual" but there are many stats in this article and many citations. Additionally, the Dating violence article has far fewer stats or citations.  Perhaps you could help to make this article more "wiki" rather than just complain about it.  I think it's fine as is. 24.126.193.118 (talk) 14:42, 25 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree, it should be merged into Dating violence, there is no reason for a stand-alone page. KPalicz (talk) 14:31, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Not sure if this is VANDALISM, UNDUE, or actually constructive
Pinging you as someone who worked on this article. A brand new account just made a massive edit adding information about "African Americans and Teen Dating Violence". Someone needs to review it. Hydromania (talk) 23:38, 28 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Hydromania, yes, there are issues with the addition. Reverted. In the future, just revert when you see an edit like that. Leave a valid rationale as well, of course. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 21:46, 2 March 2019 (UTC)