Rape, Dating Violence Weigh on Washington-Area Teens
One in eight girls at D.C. high schools said she had been raped in the past year, while a large number of Maryland and Virginia students said they had been abused by their significant others, according to a new federal report.
On surveys given in 2011, and just released by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12.7 percent of female high school students in D.C. said they had been forced to have sexual intercourse in the last year. And that percentage is on the rise: In 2007, 10.8 percent of female high school students said they had been forced to have sex, and in 2005, just 5.6 percent said the same.
Love hurts?
Both male and female high school students in the Washington area said they were hit by their romantic partners. In many cases, men said they were hit more — possibly because surveys included “slapping” and did not specify the level of seriousness of the attack, experts said.
Maryland and Virginia students weren’t asked about rape, but 16 percent of Maryland high school students and 12.1 percent of those in Virginia said their boyfriends or girlfriends had been violent toward them in the past year. In Maryland, that figure has remained relatively steady since at least 2005, while this is the first year Virginia has asked its students.
In Maryland, the rate was higher for males, with 17.0 percent of young men in Maryland saying they had been hit, slapped or otherwise intentionally hurt. In Virginia, women were more often victims, with 13.4 percent reporting abuse.
Nationally, 9.4 percent of students reported dating violence. Teen dating violence crosses socioeconomic and racial lines, with some students more able to find help from adults as their first romantic relationships turn dangerous, experts say.