Della has been teaching secondary and adult education for over 20 years. This averages out to over 1 billion people who are, more often than not, in their teen and young adult years. When we ask why a victim stays in an abusive relationship, we place the emphasis on the victim's behavior. Perhaps a more appropriate question would be, 'Why do abusers victimize their partners? While most victims are women or girls and most perpetrators are men, it is possible that perpetrators can be female and victims can be male. Because female victims are so much more common, and without any intentional disregard for male victims, we will refer to the pronouns he and she, recognizing that this makes a generalization based on the statistical predominance of genders. It is hard to accept that someone who claims to love us would hurt us, and, for this reason, we need to make justifications for why we become victims.

Patient Education Home Teen relationship abuse. Abuse in dating relationships is common among teens. About 1 in 5 teen girls say they have been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner. About 1 in 10 teen boys report abuse in dating relationships.

The year-old girl looked out over the audience of teens and tweens. We started talking through text and Instagram, never in person. He made me feel beautiful. He became my best friend. She just knew how his words made her feel.