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Healthy Teen Relationships

Healthy relationships are fun and make you feel good about yourself. Dating is an exciting part of life, but can be a little confusing—especially if dating is new to you.

Relationships take time, energy, and care to keep healthy. A healthy relationship should bring more happiness than stress into your life, and should make you feel secure and relaxed.

When your relationship is unbalanced and causes harm, stress, and pressure, it becomes unhealthy. If you are feeling anxious, taken advantage of, controlled or scared in your relationship, it's time to reevaluate and possibly get help.

Happy, healthy relationships include:

Trust, honesty, and compromise
A sense of playfulness and fondness
Room for individuality
Opportunity to bring out the best in both people
Fairness and equality
Great communication

Teen Dating Violence

Abuse in teenage relationships, also called teen dating violence, is becoming more common among teens, according to a recent survey by the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Statistics

Approximately one in three adolescent girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emotional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner.
In a national online survey, one in five tweens (age 11 to 14) say their friends are victims of dating violence, and nearly half who are in relationships know friends who have been verbally abused.

Ten Warning Signs of Teen Dating Violence

Is your boyfriend or girlfriend:

Checking your cell phone or email without your permission
Constantly putting you down
Acting extremely jealous or insecure
Exhibiting anger or an explosive temper
Demanding to know where you are and whom you're with
Isolating you from family or friends
Having big mood swings
Physically hurting you in any way
Being possessive
Telling you what to do

If so, visit the CDC's Preventing Teen Dating Violence web page to learn more about teen dating violence, its warning signs, and how you can get help.

Resources for Teens

Quizzes

How Much Do You Know About Dating Violence? Quiz

Dating Violence Quiz (PDF)

How Aware Are You? (PDF)

Useful Links and Information

Last revised on November 30, 2011

INFO LINE

If you are in an emergency situation, please call 911.

For non-emergency critical information and resources, call the 24/7 Massachusetts statewide domestic violence hotline at 877-785-2020.

SPOTLIGHT ON TEXTING

Did you know that texting can be a form of dating violence? Learn more about how to prevent unwanted texts from a boyfriend or girlfriend.

GET THE FACTS

Learn about Teen Dating Violence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

LOCAL RESOURCES

Learn more about domestic violence prevention resources for Cambridge residents.

Contact

Cambridge Public Health Department
119 Windsor Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-665-3800 (main)
617-665-3888 (fax)
617-643-0744 (TTY)

Hours: Monday-Friday:
8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
After Hours