"Domestic violence is common among adults, and women are most frequently the victims. In fact, nearly half of women killed by homicide in the United States are killed by their former or current intimate partners.
Now a new study finds that this kind of violence also poses a risk to the lives of adolescent girls.
The study found that of the more than 2,000 adolescents killed between 2003 and 2016, nearly 7 percent — 150 teens — were killed by their current or former intimate partners.
Ninety percent of the victims were female, and their average age was around 17 years old. In almost 80 percent of the cases, the perpetrator was 18 years or older.
The findings were published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.
'People think that intimate partner violence among adolescents is less serious than among adults,' says study author Avanti Adhia, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington School Of Medicine. 'It's important to highlight that this can really lead to death. It's not something to brush off as 'This is just an argument between kids.''"
For more information on teen dating violence, see VAWnet's Preventing and Responding to Teen Dating Violence special collection.
For more information on intimate partner homicide, see VAWnet's Intimate Partner Homicide Prevention special collection.
