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Isabel Solorzano

Difference of Genders

With inconsistent results from various studies around the world, teen dating violence is an issue that strikes both boys and girls differently psychologically, physically and sexually.

    Teen dating violence can be defined as physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship. All types of violence and abuse can occur in person or electronically between a current or former dating partner. Forms of digital abuse could include excessive messaging, sexting, spying, and sabotage.    

Found in a study by Liz Claiborne and TRU in 2007, 1 in 4 teens in a relationship say they have been called names, harassed or put down by their partner through cell phones and texting.

In a conducted study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year. One in ten high school students have been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend.

    In a study conducted by Sherry Hamby of the Department of Psychology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, it was found that while female participants expressed more fear while males reported more victimization.

    “In New Hampshire, 1 in 3 women will experience sexual violence while 1 in 20 men will experience sexual violence in their lifetime,” said Debra Alchiller, New Hampshire State Representative and abuse victim advocate.

    While teen dating violence occurs with both genders, the difference of trauma and experience between the genders differs. Because of the age of experience and the societal norms that allow us to talk about it, the two genders handle their experiences differently.

“Men who experience sexual violence in their lifetime most often before the age of 19.” said Alchiller. “Women’s hotspot for sexual violence will usually be during young adulthood, 17 to 26.”

According to a study by assistant director at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Michele Ybarra, girls are more likely to be a victim of psychological teen dating violence and to perpetrate physical violence and men are more likely to perpertrate sexual violence. It was found that in a group of over 1,000 youth, aged 14-20 years old, 51% of girls and 43% of boys were victimized by teen dating violence and 50% of girls and 35% of boys perpetrated TDV in 2011-2012.

As found in the Indiana Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2009, 12.1% of Indiana high school students surveyed reported being hit, slapped, or physically hurt by their boyfriend or girlfriend within the past 12 months. 11.1% of Indiana high school students surveyed report having been physically forced to have sexual intercourse against their will at some point in their lifetime. 17.3% of female students and 5.2% of male students reported this forced sexual experience. Nationally, 25% of adolescents reports emotional, physical, or sexual violence each year

“In terms of prevalence, the most common dynamic in terms of gender is for the male to be the abuser and the female to be the victim or the survivor,” said Professor Robert Eckstein. “That being said, boys have been experiencing relationship violence at higher rates than people expect.”

As studies have shown, adolescent girls are more likely than boys to be seriously injured or suffer sexual abuse as a result of dating violence. As found in the data from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to VIolence (NatSCEV), girls seemed to be more afraid of teen boys. While girls ranked teen dating violence 13th, boys ranked it 42nd in a list of 43 types of victimization.

“Amongst teenagers, when a boy is abusive to a girl, it’s more likely to be physical, controlling, a bit more violent,” said Eckstein. “Where as when a girl is abusive to her partner, it’s more likely to be verbal, emotional and more likely to use manipulation and passive aggressive techniques.”

Research done by Sherry Hamby has also suggested that girls and boys have different motivations for aggressive acts against their partners. Both boys and girls reported anger as the prime cause of such acts. As girls were more likely to also report self-defense as a motivator for aggression while boys were more likely to report the desire for control.

“If someone’s feeling angry, there’s need not being met,” said father of a victim of teen dating violence, Malcolm Astley. “Don’t be alone, with pain, shame, and hopelessness… and eventually rage.” He believes that both men and women need to maintain hope for the future.

Further research showed that boys were more likely to laugh off any aggressive acts by their partner than to report physical harm while girls reported serious harm and tended to suffer long term negative consequences such as depression, substance abuse and suicide attempts.

“It affects men and women similarly. Both men and women have a difficult time struggling with surviving an abusive relationship or sexual assault. The one thing that makes it more difficult for men, people are less likely to identify it as a problem causing them to be shamed about coming forward about being abused in their relationships,” said Eckstein.

Females reported sexual or physical violence rates as high as 6.3% while males rates reached 8.6%. While researching, Hamby found that females experienced almost twice as much fear-inducing TDV as males.

“For centuries, we’ve just let this challenge be taken on by girls and woman,” said Astley. Believing that women should not be alone, he advocates for both boys and girls by telling his daughter’s story around the country. During the case of their daughter, both of Lauren Astley’s parents testified at the State House, pushing for strong comprehensive bill to promote teaching of healthy relationships and violence prevention in all schools in Massachusetts.

In a study from the 1980’s, girls reported being victimized by physical violence twice as often as boys; however, girls indicated their aggressive acts were most often specifically intended to cause physical injury. Boys reported significantly more victimization of these acts than girls.

Teen dating violence has been an issue for many teenagers and occurs frequently. Learning healthy communication behavior can benefit both boys and girls. “Healthy fear is an important part of having a safe and caring relationship,” said Astley.

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