The Centers for Disease Control recently released it 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance based on surveys of teens in grades 9-12 covering the September 2010-December 2011 time period. Surveys were conducted nationwide and included 43 state surveys and 21 large urban school surveys. An eye-opener for parents, the surveys covered such topics as health-risk behaviors (tobacco, drug and alcohol use), bullying, dating abuse, and emotional health. Tables within the report display the data by state and select cities.
Of concern to DASH is the survey’s results about teen dating abuse. Quoting directly from the report:
During the 12 months before the survey, 9.4% of students nationwide had been hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend (i.e., dating violence). Overall, the prevalence of dating violence was higher among black (12.2%) and Hispanic (11.4%) than white (7.6%) students; higher among black female (11.8%) and Hispanic female (10.6%) than white female (7.7%) students; and higher among black male (12.4%) and Hispanic male (12.1%) than white male (7.4%) students.Overall, the prevalence of dating violence was higher among 10th-grade (9.6%), 11th-grade (10.3%), and 12th-grade (10.3%) than 9th-grade (7.5%) students; higher among 10th-grade female (9.8%) and 12th-grade female (10.7%) than 9th-grade female (7.6%) students; and higher among 11th-grade male (11.2%) and 12th-grade male (10.0%) than 9th-grade male (7.4%) students. The prevalence of dating violence ranged from 6.5% to 16.1% across state surveys (median: 11.0%) and from 7.6% to 24.2% across large urban school district surveys (median: 11.6%).
Among students nationwide, the prevalence of dating violence did not change significantly during 1999–2011 (8.8%–9.4%) or from 2009 (9.8%) to 2011 (9.4%).
Click the link to read the entire CDC report at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6104a1.htm?s_cid=ss6104a1_e