Educating Teens to Head Off Violence

The stories and statistics paint a grim picture of what it’s like to be a teenage girl in today’s dating scene.

About one in five female high school students has reported being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner, according to one study.

Another showed that girls ages 16 to 19 are 3 1/2 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.

And of growing concern, experts say, are recent anecdotes of teen and preteen girls in Los Angeles middle schools getting pressured into doing sexual favors for their older boyfriends’ acquaintances in exchange for new clothes and gifts.

“Sexual relationship violence is a pervasive problem for teenagers,” said Abby Sims, a coordinator for In Touch With Teens, a youth violence prevention and education program. Victims of such violence, she said, “can have negative health outcomes for the rest of their lives.”

William Villarreal, another coordinator for In Touch With Teens, said parents and educators don’t always do an adequate job of teaching youngsters how to “maintain healthy relationships. It’s an important life skill that they need.”

With the goal of eliminating violence in teen relationships, the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women developed the In Touch With Teens program 12 years ago.

As part of the program, students are taught how to recognize and prevent relationship violence and sexual assaults. Those students then become peer educators who help other students become aware of potential relationship and abuse problems. The program has taken hold in high schools throughout Los Angeles, and has been chosen as one of five model youth violence prevention programs in the United States.

To help expand the In Touch With Teens program, the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women received a $15,000 grant from the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign, which raises money for nonprofit agencies in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

The commission plans to use the money to reach out to two Los Angeles middle schools that graduate students to James Monroe High School in the San Fernando Valley.

More than 500 students from Oliver Wendell Holmes and Sepulveda middle schools are expected to participate in the program in the first year, organizers said. Students from Monroe, who underwent the peer education training, will teach the middle school students how to be aware of, and guard against, sexual violence.

The program also will address issues of family and community violence, and the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships.

“We cover everything about the cycle of violence,” said student Julie Torres, 17, who became a peer educator and plans to speak to the middle school students. “Knowing that [the information] can save a life or help someone feels very good.”

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