Women between the ages of 16 and 24 represent the group most likely to be abused, according to a program on teen dating and domestic abuse held at AU yesterday.
Kisan Patterson, a staff attorney for Break the Cycle, a nonprofit organization that aims to help youth end domestic violence, spoke at the program.
"I hope for this program to focus on teen dating, because dating violence can affect young people up to age 22," said Patterson, who's worked at the organization since June.
Abuse doesn't just mean hitting or other physical violence; it also includes unwanted sexual contact, and verbal or emotional abuse, Patterson said. About 2.3 million people each year in the United States are raped or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, according to Break the Cycle's Web site.
Domestic violence is a pattern of abuse that happens between people who are dating, married, related, living together or have children together, Patterson said.
Patterson also spoke about the idea that most abuse victims are females, while under abusers are male.
"Many couples these days are same-sex couples, so this stereotype is slowly being phased out," Patterson said.
The Organization through Education through Critical Literacy sponsored the event, and Amanda Hageman, an intern at Break the Cycle, helped organize the information session.
"After-school programs that service youth are very beneficial to today's youth," said Hageman, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Organizations that help protect youth from dating and domestic violence are excellent ways to reach America's teens."
Sereena Hamm, a sophomore in CAS, said parents also have a responsibility to talk about violence.
"I think that teens are going to date, and in high school it's probably a parent's job to teach them about dating and violence," Hamm said.
Chris Marsh, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said that teen violence is becoming more of a problem in today's world.
"I would imagine most people who experience it have trouble admitting to it or just don't realize the gravity of what actually happened," Marsh said. "The problem is that programs aren't effective because they don't know who to target specifically"
