President Barrack Obama named February National Teen Dating and Violence Awareness month, 2015 is the first year the month has been declared.

The reason for awareness of violence in teen dating is of course the volatility of the teenage mind but also the alarming statistics recently gathered by multiple sources.

A nationwide study about Teen Dating Violence revealed one in five girls and one in 10 boys said they had experienced teen dating violence (TDV) in the previous year, and often occurred more than once.

The common opinion on TDV is that only female teens are the receivers of violence, this is far from the truth as Kevin Vagi from the Center for Disease Control expounds upon.

“While female students have a higher prevalence than male students, male and female students are both impacted by teen dating violence,” said Vagi. “Prevention efforts may be more effective if they include content for both sexes.”

Connecting TDV to other problems in teen life such as suicidal behavior, depression or substance abuse is a tricky thing. Studying the affects of the dating life on other parts of teen behavior is nearly impossible due to the amount of other stimuli.

A key factor in violent behavior of all ages is stress, it affects middle aged men and women, elderly folks and teenagers.

While female students have a higher prevalence than male students, male and female students are both impacted by teen dating violence. Prevention efforts may be more effective if they include content for both sexes. –Kevin Vagi, Center for Disease Control 

All relationship are different; some catalysts to violence in a relationship are issues of power and control. Violent words and actions are tactics that an abusive partner uses to gain and maintain power and control over another person.

In high school peers that a partner will undoubtedly come in contact with is often a source of conflict. Many times one partner will not actively search for companionship from another student but rather come upon it by happenstance, leading the third party to believe the newly generated relationship is copacetic and normal.

Now the couple has arrived at a cross roads where jealousy and anger enter the relationship and seed the beginnings of violence. Control also enters at this point: one member of the relationship tries to monitor and control the others life and interaction with others, often sowing the seed of violence.

In American society sex has been popularized through different mediums such as TV shows, movies, music and increasingly accessible pornography. The road to purity is tougher now but that is no excuse for violence or immorality projected towards another human being. –Passport to Purity

The point of this series is to shed light on violence and relationships, and in the opinions of many behavioral experts, education is the best way to create healthy relationships. That is why President Obama proclaimed February 2015 National Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, in hopes of raising awareness and educating teens about the natural pitfalls of dating at their age.

Thankfully many resources exist to help educate teens on healthy and productive relationships. One prevalent resource in the fight against impurity is Passport to Purity. P2P offers an in depth and interactive path to purity and copacetic relationships by teaching about the best ways to interact romantically with others.

The teachings emphasize the fact that once you enter into a relationship, either sexual or non sexual, you can never be the same afterwards, even using the term “damaged goods.” Many feel that the teachings in P2P are extreme in the way that they do not allow for full restoration and demean those who have made mistakes.

In our society sex has been popularized through different mediums such as TV shows, movies, music and increasingly accessible pornography. The road to purity is tougher now but that is no excuse for violence or immorality projected towards another human being.

Directly communicating with a partner during a relationship is a key in avoiding violence. If there are no established boundaries then both parties are subject to misinterpretation and even allegations of rape after the fact.

In the next installment of teen dating, the struggle, we will examine the risks and rewards of teen relationships.

For more information, read Teen sex prevented by parental involvement

Follow The Feather via Twitter @thefeather and Instagram @thefeatheronline. The writer can be reached via Twitter @Beal2015.

For more features, read the March 5 article, Children’s Hospital drives Central Valley to volunteer towards cause (VIDEO, SLIDESHOW, PODCAST).