Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year. One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence.<span> One in 10 high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend. </span>Violent relationships in adolescence can have serious ramifications by putting the victims at higher risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, risky sexual behavior and further domestic violence. Every nine seconds, a woman in America is assaulted or beaten, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
