And although the aggression appears to decline with age, a significant number of couples remain aggressive well beyond the first two years of marriage. And aggressive behavior seems to be particularly prevalent among high school and college students, research shows. Twenty to 50 percent of adolescents experience some form of violent behavior from a dating partner by the time they reach age 15, although they don t always identify it as such, according to many studies. And several researchers have found that most of the college students they survey report violence in their relationships. Psychologists express particular concern about the interpretations many young people have about violence and romance.
Psychologists say they still have much to learn about lower levels of violence.
But many are taking what they do know and using it to launch techniques aimed at intervening with and preventing low-level abuse. They re particularly targeting adolescents and young adults, trying to offset violent actions and attitudes before they become habit. For example, O Leary and his colleagues have developed a curriculum for high school students that shows promise. The five-session curriculum, incorporated into health classes in New York state schools, aims to reduce students acceptance of dating violence. Outcome evaluations show that students who participate in the program become significantly less tolerant of physical abuse in romantic arguments than do students who don t receive the curriculum.