Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

Published March 12, 2015
By Senior Airman Sean D. Smith
Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Teen Dating Violence is an increasingly prevalent social issue, but it's not the most comfortable, and certainly not the most visible.

During the month of February, as part of Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, Family Advocacy ran a weekly workshop for teens built around education and prevention, targeted at unwholesome relationships.

"It's a technological and digital age," said Sherri McKittrick, domestic abuse victim advocate. "We're finding a lot more violence using digital means or technology. That's becoming the new face of domestic violence."

Rapid changes in technology and youth culture can make it difficult for parents and guardians to keep up. Digital communications like text messages bring a new dynamic to social interaction that can present the illusion of lessened responsibility when talking to people.

"It's very easy to type out those words and hit send," said Laurel Grams, Family Advocacy Outreach Manager. "You don't necessarily have to acknowledge a reply."

Smart phone technology marches forward, and with a connected phone in nearly every pocket, new issues are emerging that parents have never faced before.

"There are ways to look up what people are doing, like stalking behavior," McKittrick said. "There are technological dangers out there that kids need to be made aware of."

Family Advocacy presented these dangers to the young people that attended the meetings. The goal was to raise awareness of bad situations, and to instill positive relationship philosophies.

"While we were hoping that this would help them with their teen dating, we're also hoping this premise stays with them so that they make good choices in the future as well," Grams said. "We would bring some of these things up, and the kids would say it had never occurred to them."

One of Family Advocacy's focuses was overly controlling behavior.

"A lot of them think that getting 30 or 40 texts a day means love, but really it's digital abuse and stalking," McKittrick said. "It's a red flag."

Family Advocacy is trying to teach youths how to spot these red flags. The urgency in the focus on digital communication comes from its increasing prevalence.

"Digital abuse is almost becoming normalized," McKittrick said. "It's not only common, it's not correctly perceived as the issue that it is."

Problematic behaviors are a part of life, and Grams wants young people to know them when they see them. Feedback from the teens in attendance was positive, and that success potentially opens the door to more workshops in the future.

"One of our missions was to help the kids see that even if these behaviors are common, they are not healthy - and you don't want them in your life," Grams said. "So we talked about healthy dating and what they can expect from a good relationship. We hope it sticks."