Recession Causes Increase in Teen Dating Violence

A new study says 47 percent of teens have been victimized by a partner.

ByABC News via logo
June 9, 2009, 6:55 PM

June 10, 2009 — -- Teens are experiencing an alarmingly high level of abuse in their dating relationships, which the economic recession has appeared to make worse, according to a new study.

Forty-seven percent of teens said they had been victimized personally by controlling behaviors from a boyfriend or girlfriend, according to a study by Liz Claiborne Inc. and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Nearly one in three teens in the study reported sexual or physical abuse or threats.

And while the abuse can happen in person, this digitally savvy generation has discovered the power to communicate instantly also can be used to abuse. Twenty-four percent reported that they had been victimized with technology by a boyfriend or girlfriend, according to the study.

Parents of abuse victims plan to bring light to the frightening statistics at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today. Testimony from teens is scheduled for the hearing, too.

Parents like Bill and Michele Mitchell of Columbia, Md., hope the testimony will put a face on the statistics and help save others from a fate similar to the one their daughter suffered.

Though the Mitchells will not testify at the hearing, they said they will appear at the press conference announcing the study's results today.

Just three weeks after the Mitchells celebrated their daughter Kristin's graduation from Saint Joseph's University in 2005, the 21-year-old was murdered.

"The last time that I saw her alive was the day I met the guy that did it," Bill Mitchell said.

Kristin Mitchell's parents said they were unaware that their daughter was in a relationship with a possessive and controlling boyfriend.

"You know, there's some issues, but we had no idea anything like this," Michele Mitchell said.

The violence ended on June 3, 2005, when Kristin Mitchell died after being brutally attacked.

She was stabbed 55 times. Her parents never saw it coming.

"You find out what happened and then the next day you're in the funeral home making arrangements. You're picking out caskets," Michele Mitchell said.