Did you know...
More than one in three 11-12 year olds (37%) say they have been in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. 
Nearly three in four tweens (72%) say boyfriend/girlfriend relationships usually begin at age 14 or younger.
62% of tweens who have been in a relationship say they know friends who have been verbally abused (called stupid, worthless, ugly, etc) by a boyfriend/girlfriend.
Two in five (41%) tweens who have been in a relationship know friends who have been called names, put down, or insulted via cell phone, IM, social networking sites (such as MySpace and Facebook), etc.
One in five 13-14 year olds in relationships (20%) say they know friends and peers who have been struck in anger (kicked, hit, slapped, or punched) by a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Only half of all tweens (51%) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship. 
More than three times as many tweens (20%) as parents (6%) admit that parents know little or nothing about the tweens’ dating relationships.
Twice as many tweens report having “hooked up” with a partner (17%) as parents reported of their own 11-14 year old child (8%).
For teens:
More than one in three teens report that their partners wanted to know where they were (36%) and who they were with (37%) all the time.
Among teens who had sex by age 14, it’s much higher (58% and 59%, respectively). 
29% of teens say their boyfriends/girlfriends call them names and put them down, compared to 58% of teens who had sex by age 14.
22% of teens say they were pressured to do things they did not want to do, compared to 45% of teens who had sex by age 14.
69% of all teens who had sex by age 14 said they have gone through one or more types of abuse in a relationship.

These are some scary stats, please help us raise awareness of the issue of teen dating violence and help take a stand against it.
On Friday, Feb 6th from 7-10p WID will be having a wrap-up event at Boomers in Dania Beach. Please join us to show your support. For more info, please visit www.womenindistress.org