Giving Compass' Take:

• Kristen Parker reports that researchers found that teen girls are facing abusive relationships, including sexual abuse and reproductive coercion.

• How can further research clarify the extent and nature of this problem? What changes are needed to protect teens from abusive relationships? 

• Learn why we need to change the narrative around domestic abuse. 

Teen girls experience relationship abuse at alarming rates, according to a new study that specifically focuses on reproductive coercion—pressure from a partner to get pregnant.

In the study of 550 sexually active female teens, researchers found that nearly one in eight of the young women, who were between ages 14 and 19, experienced reproductive coercion within the last three months. Forms of this kind of abuse can include tampering with condoms and a partner threatening to leave.

The study in Obstetrics & Gynecology, the largest adolescent study on the issue, uses data from a previously conducted randomized trial at eight school-based health centers in California during the 2012-13 school year.

Other takeaways from the study:

  • 17% of teens reported physical or sexual abuse.
  • Young women who experience reproductive coercion have four times the odds of also experiencing other forms of relationship abuse.
  • Young women exposed to both relationship abuse and reproductive coercion were more likely to have a sexual partner who is five or more years older.

Read the full article about teen girls facing abusive relationships by Kristen Parker at Futurity.