Dating Violence: Counseling Adolescent Females from an Existential Perspective

The authors present an existential framework for conceptualizing and intervening with adolescent females who are in violent relationships. Interventions involve addressing the adolescent female's anxiety associated with I. D. Yalom's (1980) constructs of meaning, death, isolation, and freedom. The goal of therapy is to assist the abused adolescent in the creation or transformation of meaning. ********** Studies of dating violence among adolescents have appeared in the literature since the early 1980s, when Makepeace (1981) reported that the rates of dating violence were comparable to those of marital violence (Cleveland, Herrera, & Stuewig, 2003; Close, 2005). Various surveys of high school students have revealed that between 9% and 57% report having experienced at least one episode of physical violence in the context of dating relationships (Cano, Avery-Leaf, Cascardi, & O'Leary, 1998; Henton, Cate, Koval, Lloyd, & Christopher, 1983; O'Keefe, 1997; Roscoe & Callahan, 1985). College-age adolescents reported the incidence of dating violence to be between 10% and 35% (Avery-Leaf, Cascardi, & O'Leary, 1997; Bergman, 1992; Foshee et al., 1996; Henton et al., 1983; O'Keefe, 1997; Rybarik, Dosch, & Gilmore, 1995). Additionally, the age of physical maturation, dating behavior, and sexual activity has shown a steady downward trend, thereby putting increased numbers of adolescents at risk for experiencing dating violence (McFee, Turano, & Roberts, 2001). Dating violence carries serious negative consequences for the psychoemotional and physical health and well-being of both victims and perpetrators, as well as for those who witness the violence (Close, 2005). However, research indicates that abuse has a greater impact on females than on males (Cleveland et al., 2003). Abused females sustain more psychological, sexual, and physical injury than abused males do (Foshee, 1996). Makepeace (1986) found that physically abused females reported a higher incidence of injury and emotional trauma than physically abused males. Adolescent females are also at higher risk for long-term consequences, such as increased sexual risk taking, unplanned pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, disordered eating habits, and suicidal ideation (Close, 2005; Silverman, Raj, Mucci, & Hathaway, 2001). Research also indicates that adolescent females who are sexually assaulted in high school are at greater risk of sexual victimization in college (Gidycz, Hanson, & Layman, 1995). In fact, for college-age females, adolescent victimization has been found to be more predictive than childhood victimization of revictimization in college (Smith, White, & Holland, 2003). Adolescent females are in a formative stage of identity development. Without intervention, the adolescent may integrate her role as a victim of relationship abuse into her adult identity and continue to choose relationships that support and maintain this self-concept. Ideally, successful therapeutic intervention will help the adolescent to establish a pattern of healthy choices that will continue into her adult relationships. The purpose of this article is to present an existential framework as a means of conceptualizing and intervening with adolescent females who experience dating violence. Although there is little empirical research to support the application of existential principles to an adolescent client, a number of authors have discussed the importance of considering this approach with this population. Fitzgerald (2005) argued that adolescence is the first time during the life span that an individual is cognitively capable of dealing with the complexity of existential concepts. Furthermore, Fitzgerald posited that identity development, which is a key aspect of adolescence, is strongly related to the existential concept of meaning. Other researchers have argued that existential theory is an important consideration when working with violence in both children and adolescents. …