HIGH SCHOOL HORROR

Dating and Other Dangers
For High School Girls

This study was done in one small

area but keep in mind that this is

not a problem only in this area.

We have to educate our children now.

Dating Violence Against Adolescent
Girls and Associated Substance Use,
Unhealthy Weight Control, Sexual Risk
Behavior, Pregnancy, and SuicidalityJay
Silverman, PhD, Anita Raj, Ph.D., Lorelei
Mucci, MPH, Jeanne Hathaway, MD,
MPH Journal of the American Medical
Association, August 1, 2001, Vol 286,
No. 5, pp 572-579.

This article will shock many parents-
one in five high school girls have been
either physically or sexually abused
on a date, or both.
The study is based on students from
Massachusetts who participated in the
Youth Behavior Survey, a national survey
designed by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. States can add
questions to the survey, and
Massachusetts added one asking if they
had "ever been hurt physically or
sexually" by a date or someone they
were going out with. "This would include
being shoved, slapped, hit, or forced into
any sexual activity."
The survey was conducted on high school
students in more than 60 public schools
in 1997 and 1999. The results varied a bit
for the two years, but generally, 10
percent reported being physically abused
but not sexually abused by a date, 4
percent reported being sexually abused
but never physically abused, and 6
percent reported both.
Girls who reported either physical or
sexual abuse or both tended to also
report other problems; these included
heavy smoking, binge drinking, driving
after drinking, cocaine use, binge
eating/purging or use of diet pills, having
3 or more sexual partners in the last 3
months, sexual intercourse before the
age of 15, no condom use at last
intercourse, ever having been pregnant,
or considering or attempting suicide.
Girls who had been physically or sexually
abused while dating were much more
likely to report these other experiences
even when social class and other
potential influences were statistically
controlled. Some of these links are very
strong; for example, girls who were both
physically and sexually abused were
almost 10 times more likely to attempt
suicide than other girls. However,
heavy smoking was the strongest
predictor: girls who were heavy
smokers were almost 11 times more
likely to be victims of physical and
sexual violence in 1997, and more
than 7 times more likely in 1999.
The researchers point out that they
can’t determine whether the abuse
caused the other behaviors, or the
other behaviors (such as drug use or
multiple sexual partners in the last
three months) tend to precipitate the abuse.
Whatever the exact reasons for these
findings, they are chilling reminders
that high school can be full of land
minds for some girls. Parents, family
members, teachers, and other youth
workers can help by providing information
and support that can help girls avoid
or escape violence in their relationships,
and by teaching boys that violence is
unacceptable.
In a coincidence of fateful timing, the
Independent Women’s Forum, an
anti-feminist think tank, recently ran
ads in campus newspapers against the
"Feminist Myths" that they claim are
brainwashing college students. One of
these "myths" is that one in four college
women have been raped, which the
Independent Women’s Forum claims is
a gross exaggeration -- using the police
reports from college campuses, they
suggest 1 percent is more likely. This
new study suggests that the one in four
estimate is probably quite accurate, but
that most of the college women who
report having been sexually abused were
abused for the first time while they were
still in high school.

From The National Research Center for
Women and Families