IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 93 
Expressing support for designation of the month of February 2013 as 
‘‘National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 28, 2013 
Mr. LEWIS (for himself and Ms. MOORE) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for designation of the month of February 
2013 as ‘‘National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and 
Prevention Month’’. 
Whereas while dating violence, domestic violence, sexual vio-
lence, and stalking affect women regardless of age, teens 
and young women are especially vulnerable; 
Whereas according to a National Intimate Partner and Sex-
ual Violence survey by the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC), the majority of victimization 
starts early in life as most rape and intimate partner vio-
lence is first experienced before age 24; 
Whereas in 2008, the National Council on Crime and Delin-
quency reported that approximately 1 in 3 adolescent 
girls in the United States is a victim of physical, emo-
tional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a rate that 
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far exceeds victimization rates for other types of violence 
affecting youth; 
Whereas according to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance 
System (YRBSS) of the CDC, nearly 10 percent of high 
school students have been hit, slapped, or physically hurt 
on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the past year; 
Whereas a 2012 study as part of an independent evaluation 
of Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships, an 
initiative aimed at building healthy relationships among 
middle school youth, finds teen dating violence behaviors 
common even among 7th-grade students with nearly one 
in six reporting physical dating violence; 
Whereas according to data from the YRBSS, almost 20 per-
cent of teen girls who were exposed to physical dating vi-
olence did not attend school on 1 or more occasions dur-
ing the past 30 days due to feeling unsafe at school or 
on the way to or from school; 
Whereas schools are unequipped to handle the issue, as a re-
cent study by Ball State University found that 81 per-
cent of school counselors reported that they did not have 
a school protocol on how to respond to an incident of 
teen dating violence but 61 percent reported that they 
had assisted victims of dating-related violence in the past 
2 years, despite a lack of formal training for some of the 
counselors; 
Whereas a study published in Pediatrics suggests that teen 
dating violence ‘‘is a substantial public health problem’’ 
as victims of teen dating violence are at increased risk of 
mood and behavior problems as young adults, and at in-
creased risk for future violent relationships; 
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Whereas girls victimized by a teen boyfriend reported more 
heavy drinking, smoking, depression, and thoughts of sui-
cide, and teens of both sexes who were in aggressive rela-
tionships were 2 to 3 times more likely to be in violent 
relationships as young adults; 
Whereas being physically and sexually abused leaves teen 
girls up to 6 times more likely to become pregnant and 
more than twice as likely to contract a sexually trans-
mitted disease; 
Whereas more than 3 times as many tweens (20 percent) as 
parents of tweens (6 percent) admit that parents know 
little or nothing about the dating relationships of tweens; 
Whereas according to the 2009 Parent/Teen Dating Violence 
Poll by Liz Claiborne Inc., although 82 percent of par-
ents are confident that they could recognize the signs if 
their child was experiencing dating abuse, 58 percent of 
parents could not correctly identify all of the warning 
signs of abuse; 
Whereas 74 percent of teenage boys and 66 percent of teen-
age girls say that they have not had a conversation with 
a parent about dating abuse in the past year; 
Whereas 1 in 4 teens in a relationship say that they have 
been called names, harassed, or put down by their part-
ner through telephones and texting; 
Whereas according to the 2010 College Dating Violence and 
Abuse Poll by Liz Claiborne Inc., 43 percent of college 
women who date report experiencing abusive dating be-
haviors; 
Whereas 70 percent of college students who were in an abu-
sive relationship failed to realize that they were in an 
abusive relationship, and 60 percent of such students 
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said that no one stepped in to help them when they were 
in an abusive relationship; 
Whereas the severity of violence among intimate partners has 
been shown to be greater in cases where the pattern of 
violence was established in adolescence; 
Whereas primary prevention programs are a key part of ad-
dressing teen dating violence, and many successful exam-
ples of such programs include education, community out-
reach, and social marketing campaigns that are culturally 
appropriate; 
Whereas educating middle school students and their parents 
about the importance of building healthy relationships 
and preventing teen dating violence is key to deterring 
abuse before it begins; 
Whereas skilled assessment and intervention programs are 
necessary for youth victims and abusers; and 
Whereas the establishment of the month of February 2013 
as National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Preven-
tion Month will benefit schools, communities, and families 
regardless of socioeconomic status, race, or sex: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the designation ‘‘National Teen 
Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month’’; 
(2) supports communities in empowering teens 
to develop healthy relationships throughout their 
lives; and 
(3) calls on the people of the United States, in-
cluding youth, parents, schools, law enforcement, 
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•HRES 93 IH 
State and local officials, and interested groups to ob-
serve National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and 
Prevention Month with appropriate programs and 
activities that promote awareness and prevention of 
teen dating violence in their communities. 
Æ 
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