Discussion of the problem and it’s prevalence in the country
A healthy relationship is defined by various factors, these include proper communication between partners, the existence of mutual trust and respect and most importantly, both partners should be able to understand each other, appreciate and embrace their differences (Brown & Bulanda, 2008). These conditions are necessary to ensure that partners are always in a position to resolve any matters arising between them in an amicable and rational manner without any violence. This scope of activities require certain skills that are unfortunately not found amongst the young adults; it’s as a result of lack of these skills amongst young adult that lead to dating violence.
Dating violence can be defined as the aggressive, controlling and abusive behavior that arises between two people who are involved in a romantic relationship (Brown & Bulanda, 2008). The abuse can take a sexual, verbal, physical or emotional dimension, some or all dimensions. Although emotional and sometimes verbal abuses are not easy to distinctively spot, they are as much harmful to the victim as physical and sexual abuse. Emotional abuse involves things like a partner monitoring what the other does most of the time, being humiliated by your partner in front of others, threats of hurting himself or herself when you do something or fail to, attempts to control your expenditures and making personal decisions for you (Mulford & Giordano, 2008). Physical abuse, on the other hand, involves punching, strangling, pulling your partner’s hair, throwing objects at your partner amongst others. Sexual abuse forced sexual intercourse, being forced to use or not to use birth control and STI prevention measures, forced kissing and touching (Cyr et al. 2006).
Young adults dating violence is dating violence that occur amongst adolescents and young adults majorly in the age bracket of 16 to 24 year (Halpern et al. 2009). At the onset of this age group, most youths have their first experience of being in a romantic relationship; they are, therefore, very fragile and emotionally weak. In the United States of America, it is reported that adolescent youths and young women are the most affected by violence arising from relationships. Almost a single female in every sample of ten high school female students say they have experienced physical abuse by their partner in the last one year (Olshen et al. 2007). Still, nearly 1.5 million students in high school reported to be victims of physical abuse, such abuses having been perpetrated by someone they are dating. It is also reported that the rate of dating abuse on young women is three times the national average for women who are between 16-24 years (Gómez, 2010).
Although dating violence might be taken as being normal in some instances, it is important to note that dating violence may escalate to very dangerous level for both partners i.e. the one causing the abuse and the one being abused. Instances of partners going to the extent of killing each other as a result of dating abuse are very common. For example, in February 2015, a 19-year-old youth committed suicide after killing his 15-year-old girlfriend, Myrna Umanzor from San Leandro, California (Mulford & Giordano, 2008). It is as a result of an increasing trend of dating violence amongst teens and young adults that February was declared a “Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month” in the United States.
Statistics on dating violence may vividly give the true picture of dating violence in the United States. It is reported that at least one among every three adolescents sampled randomly in the United States has experienced some form of verbal, sexual or physical abuse from a partner they once dated or are currently dating (Olshen et al. 2007). This even exceeds the ratio reported on other forms of youth violence investigated. Also, in every sample of 10 high school students, one is reported to have been slapped, hit with something or even experienced some bodily harm as a result of being abused by their girlfriend or boyfriend. Still, there are those very many unreported cases that occur on a daily basis (Olshen et al. 2007).
Dating violence may occur at all stages of life in a relationship; however, our focus is on young adults because statistically, the age group 12 to 18 is the commencement of violent behaviors and it is observed that severe dating violence occurs between partners if such violent behaviors started at the stage of adolescence (Halpern et al. 2009). This, therefore, means that to stop or rehabilitate violent behavior in relationships, the problem of dating violence must be identified and tackled early before it grows and becomes severe. More worrying trend is the triviality with which dating violence is treated, although there is some improvement in creating awareness, for example through declaration of February as a “Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month,” statistics still show that 33% of people of teenage experiencing violence in their relationships never shared about the ordeal with anyone, not even their parents (Cyr et al. 2006). On the other hand, eighty-one percent of our parents are of the opinion that young adult dating violence is a non-issue or are not even decisive on whether it’s an issue or not. Also, many parents (82%) are reported to have agreed that they could spot any signs indicating that a child was experiencing violence in their relationship; however, most of these parents (58%) were not able to accurately all signs of a relationship with violence amongst their teenage children (Halpern et al. 2009).
Factors that Contribute To Dating Violence amongst Young Adults
Dating violence amongst young adults has been linked to substance and alcohol abuse by either partner. Most young adults who do not have many responsibilities in their lives fall in the age bracket 14-24 years old. At this stage of their lives, most of these young adults experience different developments in their lives including the urge to explore. Most people in this age bracket hence normally find themselves in an environment where they have a lot of free time and do engage in alcohol and substance abuse. It is, therefore, the fact that they might be violent under the influence of alcohol and other substance that result into these young adults abusing their partners or being abused by their partners, especially if they are female (Swahn et al. 2008).
Poverty has also been identified as another factor that might cause dating violence. Those living in poverty are bound to engage in a lot of conflicts about a financial issue and also the roles that partners are supposed to play (Santana et al. 2007). These conflicts and disagreements turn to violence amongst the young adults who are still dating since they do not have adequate skills in relationships to solve such issues. A young person’s environment might also determine their susceptibility to dating violence, if a young person is in the company of people always involved in dating violence, they learn to use violence to solve certain issues in their relationships. On the other hand, an environment that positively instill skills that help people resolve their relationship problems is likely to influence a young partners’ ability to solve relationship issue without involving any violent behaviors (Finkelhor, 2009).
Consequences of Dating Violence amongst young adults
Young adults experiencing dating violence are likely to fall into depression since they do not have the necessary skills to deal with such issues (Ireland & Smith, 2009). Considering that most of the young people in this age bracket (16-24) are in high school and majority in tertiary levels of education, these people are likely to register poor performance in schools as a result of depression (Holt, Buckley, & Whelan, 2008). Some young adults are neither able to handle depression adequately and are nor even seek any assistance or guidance, therefore, some assorted cases of depression resulting from dating violence lead to suicide. A typical example is that of a 19-year-old male youth who committed suicide after killing his 15-year-old girlfriend, Myrna Umanzor from San Leandro, California (Mulford & Giordano, 2008).
Dating violence may also increase health risks as partners may for example, once in a while, forgo the use of contraceptives and STI prevention measures like using condoms (Bonomi, 2007). The increase in health risk may occur as a result of a partner being under too much pressure from their partners hence heeding to their demands. Exposure to health risks may ultimately lead to infections which definitely harms the victims of dating violence. Dating violence like sexual abuse also leads to unwanted pregnancies. These unwanted pregnancies may push some young adults to procure abortions hence further putting their lives at risk. Sexual abuse may also lead to injuries on victims’ genitals; such injuries would act as entry points for various infections hence putting the victims’ health at risk (Bonomi, 2007).
In line with the information provided above looking at the problem of domestic violence amongst young adults in America, the statistical analysis of some reports on domestic violence, the factors that lead to dating violence amongst young people and the consequences of such violence, various programs have been designed in the country in a bid to tackle violence among young adults who are dating. Some of these programs are discussed below.
Programs designed to deal with young adults dating violence
1. The Date Safe Project: This project was started by Mike Domitrz in 2003 after being inspired by his sister’s experience of rape. This organization aims at teaching more about good relationship and intimacy in all ages. However, it majorly deals with young adults who are the most affected by dating violence (Whitaker et al. 2006). The organization is trying to build a culture of respect and consent so that partners in a relationship learn to use non-violent means to solve their issues. To achieve its objectives, the organization handles the following responsibilities: I) Publishing education materials and designing programs to educate on relationship and intimacy. II) Creating online-based resources, for example, videos that carry teachings on good intimacy and relationship practices. III) Conducting live day training events in local communities to help them deal with matters related to gender issues and dating violence. IV) Writing letter to newspaper, journal and magazine editors to expose injustices resulting from dating violence and also encouraging positive cultural practices. V) Campaigning to create a global movement advocating for societal awareness on dating violence and coming up with suggestions to handle them (Whitaker et al. 2006).
Through its publications, physical visits, and media presentations. The Date Safe organization has been able to encourage and inspire victims of dating violence. They have also been able to change the perceptions of schools and institutions of higher learning on teaching relationship and intimacy issues in such learning institutions. For quite a long time, teaching such topics were not allowed in schools.
2. New York City Alliance against Sexual Assault: This is an organization based in New York City; it aims at ensuring prevention of sexual violence and reducing its consequences through providing education and initiate g research. This organization also analyzes and recommends improvements in policies that may be dealing with issues of sexual violence as an example of dating violence. The organization has certain programs which it undertakes to ensure that it addresses the problem of sexual violence. These programs include the Prevention and Community Mobilization program that incorporates both social justice aspects and public health approaches to help communities and organizations come up with solutions so as to achieve a long lasting solution to sexual violence. The organization also runs a forensic training program for sexual assault. The program is aimed at providing professional development and also does certification for those involved in sexual assault forensics (Whitaker et al. 2006)..
3. Respect WORKS! This program is a national program that aims at assisting service providers who deal with young adults the tools they need to respond to young adults dating violence that may arise in and out of campuses (Whitaker et al. 2006)..
Need for Improvement
Although there have been some attempts to improve awareness on teen dating violence, the figures shown by research and statistics is worrying. For such an issue that leads to suicide and murders, it is worrying to learn that a whopping 33% of young adults who have been victims of dating violence have never shared the ordeal with anyone. With more than 20 percent of adolescents stating in reports that they have experienced some sort of dating violence, worrying is the trend that some parents still consider the issue of dating violence a non-issue (Cyr et al. 2006).
The first area that needs improvement, therefore, is awareness about dating violence. As discussed above, some parents have treated the issue of young adults dating violence as minor; however, that is not the case. Young adults dating violence is as serious as HIV. The awareness that has been put forth for HIV should be borrowed and used to create increase awareness on dating violence (Black, Sussman & Unger, 2010). The awareness campaign should be comprehensive and should cover the whole scope of the subject. Most victims of dating violence do not know all the types of dating violence that exists. Some like emotional abuse may be ignored and considered personal issues, yet they are instigated by a partner. Secondly, there is need to educate young adults on the available help channels that they can easily access so that they get assistance very first. There are various helplines that are provided by various organizations’ initiatives such as Love is Respect, The National Center for Victims and Crime National Runaway Safeline, Rape Abuse Incest National Network (RAINN) and IMALIVE amongst others.
The second area of improvement for these programs is expanding their outreach. Some of these programs cannot be accessed by young adults and youths in the rural areas, yet they are so many in urban areas. In Imperial County, for example, these organizations and their initiatives as not sufficient (Black, Sussman & Unger, 2010). These programs should also be designed to incorporate campaigns that eye to change cultural practices. As illustrated above, the Date Safe Project is one amongst the many programs that has included promotion of good cultural practices that help in promoting good relationship and intimacy. For the various rural areas, it is an important approach to focus on culture as a lot of things are centered on cultural beliefs.
The impetus for advocacy for good dating practices and healthy relationships have also been overshadowed by advocacy against domestic violence and women’s rights. The effect of this is that there is excess concentration on domestic violence and gender issues. It is, therefore, important for some form of decentralization in these organizations so that they separate young adults dating violence and from other domestic violence related issues. The problem of handling such issues as a single thing is that more often than not, the programs normally address the needs of adults. However, as we noted, the youth basically have different needs when it comes to dating, they lack the necessary skills to handle relationship matters and do not know some of the non-violent ways of solving difference that arise in their relationships (Wolitzky et al. 2008). Once it is appreciated that the youth have different needs from adults when it comes to relationships, organizations will specialize in what they handle when it comes to relationship issues.
Finally, there is the need for the society to appreciate that dating violence cuts across all races, social classes, and cultural backgrounds. It is common, for example, that when considering dating violence, the focus will be on the poor, marginalized groups and those who are already in a marriage and women. Even though it is true that women aged between 16-24 years report the highest number of dating violence incidences, it is important to note that the same violence could be affecting their male counterparts as well but as a result of societal constructs and norms, these male counterparts may not report such abuses for fear of being considered weak (Santana et al. 2006). There is, therefore, need for improvement on considering both women and mean when attempts are made to address young adults dating violence. The society may never change considering how they view both women and men when it comes to dating; however, both men and women are affected by young adult dating violence in almost equal measures, it’s only that women feel free to express them, unlike men.
Recommendations
First and foremost, the issue of creating awareness about dating violence amongst the young adults should be made more than it has already been done. By simply creating awareness on an issue like the types of dating violence that occur amongst the young adults, there could be an increase in the number of young adult seeking help for dating violence. Secondly, the aspect of the boy child should be emphasized in the war against dating violence, if possible, this should be approached from the cultural perspective because the behavior of the boy child when it comes to dating violence is mostly determined by cultural backgrounds (Wolitzky et al. 2008). If this is approached from a cultural perspective as done by initiatives undertaken by the Safe Date program, then we could see an improvement on the part of young adult mean reporting and seeking help on dating violence.
Lastly, there is a need to increase the scope of people targeted to help in the campaigns for good intimacy and relationship practices. The concentration on women and the poor should not be the case. Therefore, these organizations trying to offer help should, first of all, include programs that deal with groups like those of high social ranks in the society. The organizations and their programs should also decentralize so that they increase their outreach, the New York City Alliance against Sexual Assault should, for example, create a branch in Imperial County so that it reaches as many people as possible in the rural areas. Some of these organizations are self-funded and might decry lack of funds to expand their outreach. However, through government support and seeking the help of philanthropists, they could get the necessary funds required to effectively run their branches. A different approach like creating semi-autonomous and partially self-funding groups in the rural areas could also be a viable option considering lack of funds. This approach has been used by the United Religions Initiative, which has created autonomous Cooperation circles in various parts of the world to help them improve their global outreach. Finally, the power of the media should be exploited to help in creating awareness about young adult dating violence. As such, the media may provide information such as help centers, the various programs available, the various online resources available and the various organizations that can offer help. With the global power of the internet and social media, the use of social media can still be very effective while reducing the need for paid advertising in TV and radio stations.
References
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