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Veronica Ramos
Instructor: Melton
April 25,2015
Research topic Proposal
Domestic Violence is an issue that affects people of different ethnic backgrounds, ages,
genders and is among the many issues that is surrounded by stigma. Often times, people who are
in abusive relationships do not reach out for help because they are afraid of being judged or even
being denied help because others may think they are seeking attention. The issue with not
seeking help is that they prevent themselves from leaving their abuser, which gives the abuser
power over them, or in some cases leads to the victims death. Fortunately, the cases of domestic
violence has decreased since the year of 2007 in california alone. The decrease in the number of
cases has been with in the younger generation but the number of cases being reported are still
high.The young adolescent people are receiving minimal education on this subject which may
make this harder for them to understand the severity of this issue which can cause them to
engage in unhealthy activities if they do not receive the proper education.Schools need to be
given a curriculum to help solidify the proper education practices to further reduce the number of
students who are in an unhealthy relationship and engaging in unhealthy activities do to the lack
of education.
When students lack the proper education on healthy and unhealthy relationships it hinders
the students ability to be able to identify the early signs of a bad relationship. For instance, if a
student does not realize that they are in a potentially harmful relationships can be helped by
students that are bystanders, but if that student is not educated the students who is in need of help
will continue to be in unhealthy relationship. Young adolescent girls are among the most
common to be in an abusive or unhealthy relationship simply because they are often manipulated
into behaving in unhealthy activities by their abuser. In the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey

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that was conducted in 2001 found that 1 of 5 girls report a history of dating violence and noted
a relationship between dating violence and girls sexual risks and pregnancy.(Silverman). The
students in this survey did not know they were in a abusive relationship due to their lack of
understanding on what exactly qualifies a relationship to be an abusive relationship. Teens are at
an all time high to engage in activities such as these which make it harder to deviate right from
wrong. Ultimately this survey brought up a lot of unanswered questions that led to this group of
educated individuals to see that there needed to be some form of education to help them identify
these issues.
In 2001 there were some experiments conducted that made some remarkable headway
for the outlook on the classroom teaching structure when it come to this pressing matter. For
example, in a case study conducted in New City middle schools, a selected number of students
were given education on healthy relationships, dating violence and gender identity which proved
to decrease the number of students engaging high risk activities(Taylor). These students who
were given the proper education on how to spot the signs of dating violence, as well as learning
how to avoid other high risk activities, were able to do something to prevent harm to others as
well as themselves. This experiment proved that the proper education can lower the amount of
students who enter in an abusive relationship. Students should be given an education of the
possible harms in dating violence to help them spot the beginning signs of dating violence as
well as give them information on how to get out of a unhealthy relationship.
Another survey that was conducted by BMC Public Health they found that from the ages
of 13 to 19 they have seen a wide variety of students who have been in abusive relationship that
made them call for more school based programs to prevent this from continuing to happen
(Bonomi, et al).The end result of this study proved something that has already been proved in the

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Silverman program and many others. Like the other studies they proved that there needs to be
more youth based programs rather than just programs who help adults in domestic violence
situations. It also called for the need for new teaching practices that integrate teen dating
violence and other concerns involving the students engaging in high risk activities. The studies
surfaced the lack of education towards this issue which resulted in the 2015 school code that
called for the integration of the topics of unhealthy relationships in the California school
districts. The California state education code section 33545 states that the health framework
should discuss healthy boundaries for relationships, sexual abuse or assaults, and other important
information that could be beneficial education to the teenagers. This is a step in the right
direction because now it allows students to become more educated on the issues that are most
prevalent in these students every day life.
Of course there is no true way to teach this in classes but the teachers need to be aware
that this issue is present in high school and without education it could continue and severely hurt
those affected by dating violence. Some ways that can help with is step forward is by discussing
how the school needs to inform the students parents, faculty and many others about the type of
education that will be presented, which can create some obstacles(A Guide to addressing).
When parents are aware of what their students are learning it can allow them to be educated on
this issue as well. If a parent knows what to look for; it gives them the opportunity to stop their
child from engaging in an unhealthy relationship.
Students who receive an education on what the dangers are of being in an abusive
relationship, can help the student learn how to avoid situations such as dating violence. It is not
only up to the schools to teach this in their everyday health classes but also parents and
bystanders so that they can prevent further pain and suffering to the victim.I was among one of

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those students who didnt get a proper education by my mother as well as my school district. I
was never the one who thought that I could end up in the same situation as my mother and it hurt
when I finally realized that I was in an abusive relationship. That is why I want this other
students to realize what I did sooner and be able to find more information about how to avoid
and essencial get out of a situation such like mine. That is why everyone should be given an
education on how to prevent themselves from engaging in an abusive relationships and to avoid
being pressured into staying in one as well.

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Work Cited
Bonomi, Amy, Melissa Anderson, Julianna Nemeth, Suzanne Bartle-Haring, Cynthia
Buettner, and Deborah Schipper. "Dating Violence Victimization Across the Teen Years:
Abuse Frequency, Number of Abusive Partners, and Age at First Occurrence." BMC
Public Health, 12.1 (2012): 637-646. Web. 10, April, 2016.
Center, Crime And Violence Prevention, and California Attorney GeneralS Off. "A Guide to
Addressing Teen Dating and Sexual Violence in a School Setting." A Guide to Addressing
Teen Dating and Sexual Violence in a School Setting(n.d.): n. pag. Crime and Violence
Prevention Center California Attorney Generals Of Ce, Feb. 2008. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Decker, Michele, Avril Houston, Caitlin Martin and Kristin Mmari. Urban Teens and
Young Adults Describe Drama, Disrespect, Dating Violence and Help Seeking
Preferences. Matern Child Health J (2012) 16:957966. Web. 4 April, 2016.
"Domestic Violence/Abuse - Infographic, Charts & Infographics." Domestic
Violence/Abuse - Infogram, Charts & Infographics. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 2016.
"Education Code Section 33545." Law Section. California Legislative Information, 1 Jan.
2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
Silverman, JG, A Raj, and K Clements. "Dating Violence and Associated Sexual Risk and
Pregnancy Among Adolescent Girls in the United States." Pediatrics, 114.2 (2004): e220.
Web. 10 April, 2016.
Taylor, Bruce, Nan D. Stein, Dan Woods, and Elizabeth Mumford. "Shifting Boundaries: Final
Report on an Experimental Evaluation of a Youth Dating Violence Prevention Program in
New York City Middle Schools." PsycEXTRA Dataset (n.d.): n. pag. NCJRS, 06 Oct.
2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2016