Updated Oct 9, 2008 - 1:55 pm
"Domestic Violence Awareness Month" presents an opportunity to discuss dating violence among teen-agers.
Connie Phillips, head of Sojourner Center, a Valley shelter for domestic violence victims, said dating violence affects women of all ages, but teens are more vulnerable.
"Statistics are showing it happens in one in five teen-aged girls," Phillips said. "One in five teen-aged girls report having been hit, slapped, kicked, pushed in a dating relationship -- or made to have sex."
In a study of eighth- and ninth-graders, the Family Violence Prevention Fund found 25 percent said they were victims of dating violence, including sexual abuse.
"We like to think that it wouldn't ever happen to us because it only happens to those other kind of people," Phillips said, "but it happens to people just like us."
She had a tip for parents to recognize the problem.
"I think the biggest sign is if a child stops doing things they used to do with other people. If that boyfriend or girlfriend begins to monopolize their time, begins to tell them how to dress, because those are signs that someone is manipulating them and making them do something."
