Imagine it’s a dark place with no light, no guidance, and no more hope for a happy future. Teens who are in abusive relations go through these fears every day and every second of their lives. Some of them even give up and except the life they have chosen. What most people that are in these types of relations don’t understand is that there is hope and there is help. These disappointing choices teenagers make at such a young age can affect them for the rest of their lives. These actions don’t just happen for any reason. It can be influenced by someone or it could come from within the person themselves.

As of right now there is a lot of talk in the media about this hot issue. For example the hot topic of Ray Rice who hit his wife in the elevator after an argument. There are a handful of famous celebrate males that have committed domestic violence. Most of these celebrities can get away with it by sheading a few tears and apologizing in front of a camera. Mariska Hargitay Cites “The fact that these individuals were revealing something so personal to someone they knew only as a character on television demonstrated to all of us, how desperate they were to be heard, believed, supported and healed.” This just makes you wonder what if some of these teens are thinking if their remodel or favorite celebrity is doing it, why shouldn’t they? This could be a horrible excuse for young teens to develop these types of behaviors.

At a young age when teens are barely trying to figure out who they are they don’t realize what type of relationship they are involved in until it’s too late. According to Dosomething.org “Roughly 1.5 million high school boys and girls in the U.S. admit to being intentionally hit or physically harmed in the last year by someone they are romantically involved with.” This is a high number of teens that are involved in these relationships. There is a lot of help being offered to these young adults who are suffering in their relationships. For example in Arizona it’s self-there are over 1,000 hotlines, shelters, and programs welling to help anyone in this situation. But the real question is why do teens stay in an abusive relationship? According to a survey taken by 50 Sierra Linda high school students they said “The reason why they stay in those relationships is because they are scared that if they leave their going to get hurt by that person.” From the ages of 13-19 this should not be a fear for anyone. This is the time of their lives when they should be enjoying themselves and living life to the fullest and not wondering how they can hide their black eye.

For more information on this issue or to learn more about domestic violence, here are some helpful links bellow.

http://longmontdomesticviolence.org/images/Printed%20Materials/NIJJournal_TeenDatingViolence_Oct08.pdf

http://www.dayoneny.org/abuseoverview/?gclid=CPj3jN_zz8ICFQpsfgoda7EAyQ