Teens and intimate partner violence

Abstract

Remember when you first met me?” Gina now 24 years old queried me during a recent routine clinic visit. I did remember. Gina first presented as a 17-year-old high school junior pregnant for the first time. I remembered a bright articulate young woman. What I did not know at that time and only learned almost three years later was the extent of violence in her intimate partner relationship. The prevalence of violence in the lives of many of my patients has increased dramatically over the last decade both as victims and/or as witnesses of violence in their intimate partner relationships homes families and communities. Current statistics of intimate partner violence estimate 1.5 million women are abused annually and 25% of American women experience abuse in their lifetime. A recent study in Massachusetts of 4163 girls in grades 9–12 found one in five girls reporting physical and or sexual abuse by a dating partner. Violence including accidents assaults homicide suicide and sexual risk taking is now the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children and adolescents. Risk of injury rape or homicide by a current or former partner is greater than all combined causes of injury to women ages 15 to 44. Pregnancy is a high-risk time for women and often when abuse begins or escalates. (excerpt)