Some teens may be being abused on-line by their dating partners, but how large or pervasive the problem is remains to be determined. Cyber abuse would include being stalked, monitored, threatened, or harassed with hurtful comments.
This finding comes from a study based on surveys of teens aged 14 to 19 who visited school health clinics in northern California schools. About 41% said that they had been the victim of cyber dating abuse in the previous three months, with about 45% of girls and 31% of boys saying it happened to them. Cyber dating abuse was more likely to be associated with physical or sexual abuse such as being hit, pushed, slapped, choked, or hurt by a dating partner.
Because the teens surveyed do not represent a random sample of teens, there is no way to determine how common cyber abuse is among teens overall. However, the study does suggest that certain teens are more at risk for this type of abuse, including girls, non-whites, and bisexual teens.
The group of teens surveyed wasthose who were seeking health care at school clinics. Such teens tend to have riskier behaviors, said the study author Rebecca Dick, a clinical research coordinator of the Center for Adolescent and Young Adult Health at the University of Pittsburgh.
The most common forms of cyber abuse were stalking (repeated contact to ask where they were, who they were with, or what they were doing) and making mean or hurtful comments. The study found that 8% of the teens surveyed said they had received threatening or aggressive comments.
"We need to support prevention efforts that increase education about the many different forms of abuse in adolescent relationships, and to encourage parents, teachers, coaches and others to talk to young people about what healthy relationships look like," Dick told HealthDaily.com.
The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.
