In Spain, one in six teenagers – and one in ten in the case of boys – has been the victim of some type of violence in their first couple relationships. The one that is exercised most is the violence of control: limiting the relationship of the other person with his friendships, preventing him from meeting with other people, checking his mobile phone… One in ten young people among 14 and 17 years old has suffered some of these behaviors from their partner. More girls (13.3%) than boys (7.1%).
These are the main conclusions of the research article Violence in relationships between teenagers, carried out by Noemí Pereda, Marta Codina and Diego A. Díaz-Faes, from the University of Barcelona, ??for the Social Observatory of the Fundació La Caixa based on a survey of more than 4,000 young people aged between 14 and 17.
The authors explain that relationships between teenagers differ from those maintained by adults due to the lack of experience and impulsive behaviors that often result in inappropriate strategies when dealing with conflicts, such as verbal and physical aggression. One of the most significant differences is that violence is suffered and committed by both boys and girls, with highly bidirectional behavior. In the case of control violence, research shows that teenage girls, in addition to being the ones who suffer from it the most, are also the ones who admit more than exercise it: 4.2% of the respondents, for the 1 .9% of boys.
“This form of violence is closely related to a very traditional and patriarchal view of what is supposed to be romantic love, a relationship model in which control is interpreted as interest and respect for the partner,” commented Noemí Loss in the presentation of the work. And he explained that the fact that girls admit that they use violence more often than boys “we have also seen this in previous work and it is explained by the educational model that has prevailed in recent years regarding violence in teenage couples and that has caused many girls to be more sensitive to reporting these behaviors”, while it is possible that boys report it less “because of the greater social rejection they receive if they explain it”.
He points out that, in any case, these relationships over which they explain that they control their partners tend to be temporary, and this model of initial romantic love disappears over time and with new relationships. However, they point out that, just as these controlling behaviors sometimes disappear, in other cases they can escalate into more serious forms of violence, such as physical or sexual.
In fact, the survey shows that, although the most frequent violence is that of control (10.1%), in second place is the performance of unwanted sexual acts (4.5%) and, finally, slaps and other forms of physical aggression (4.2%).
In the case of sexual assaults, the victimization rate is 6.6% among girls and 2.1% among boys, while physical assaults are said to be suffered more by boys (4.5%) than girls (3.6%).
