A Parent's Guide to Teen Dating Violence

Handbook Helps Parents and Teens Talk About Dating Violence Too often, parents find themselves "generationally disadvantaged" when trying to connect with their children about serious issues, especially dating violence. According to a survey commissioned by the Empower Program and sponsored by Liz Claiborne Inc., teenagers 14 to 17 are indeed experiencing dating violence. In fact, nearly one-quarter of teenagers (24 percent) know at least one student at their school who was physically struck by a person s/he was dating. However, parents are grossly unaware of this problem, with 81 percent either believing that teen dating violence is not an issue or admitting that they don't really know if it is. And, a majority share that they have not spoken to their child about dating violence. Of those parents who have not spoken to their teen about this issue, nearly two-thirds would do so if they had more information about how to initiate a dialogue. To help these parents, Liz Claiborne Inc. has produced a dating violence awareness and educational handbook specifically targeted to parents of teens. The handbook, titled "A Parent's Guide to Teen Dating Violence: 10 Questions to Start the Conversation," provides parents and guardians of teens with language, conversation starters and facts to help them close the gap and open channels of communication. Included in the handbook are the latest statistics on dating violence and its prevalence among teens today, a clear definition of relationship abuse, as well as "nuts and bolts tips" on how to get a conversation started. Actual quotes from both parents and teens are interspersed throughout the copy.

Click here to download the "Parent's Guide to Teen Dating Violence" in Adobe Acrobat format. Click here to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader. To order the handbook, please click here.