Home > News > Article Display

Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

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

PRINT | E-MAIL
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."
USAF Comments Policy
If you wish to comment, use the text box below. AF reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

This is a moderated forum. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, we expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain abusive or vulgar language, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, violate EEO policy, are offensive to other or similar content. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly "off topic", promote services or products, infringe copyright protected material, or contain any links that don't contribute to the discussion. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted. The AF and the AF alone will make a determination as to which comments will be posted. Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non-governmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using this page. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the AF, DoD, the United States, or its officers or employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying AF endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Any comments that report criminal activity including: suicidal behaviour or sexual assault will be reported to appropriate authorities including OSI. This forum is not:

  • This forum is not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact OSI or your local police agency.
  • Do not submit unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries to this forum. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
  • This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.

AF does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on this forum is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. AF may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on this website by any other person. AF does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained on those websites that may be reached through links on our website.

Members of the media are asked to send questions to the public affairs through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Reporter questions will not be posted. We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and posted as early as possible; in most cases, this means the next business day.

For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. The views expressed on the site by non-federal commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the AF or the Federal Government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as name, Social Security number, DoD ID number, OSI Case number, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. If you do voluntarily include personally identifiable information in your comment, such as your name, that comment may or may not be posted on the page. If your comment is posted, your name will not be redacted or removed. In no circumstances will comments be posted that contain Social Security numbers, DoD ID numbers, OSI case numbers, addresses, email address or phone numbers. The default for the posting of comments is "anonymous", but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on our site.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.