FAQ: Safety in Relationships: A Guide for Teens

About This FAQ

During your teen years, you will have relationships with a lot of people. These relationships will probably include friendships and dating relationships. Most of the time, these relationships are fun, exciting, and healthy, and they make us feel good about ourselves. Sometimes, however, these relationships can be unhealthy and can be harmful to you or other people involved. Unhealthy relationships can be risky because someone can get hurt physically or emotionally. This information guide was created to help you to understand the signs of an unhealthy or abusive relationship and to learn ways to change a bad situation.

Contents

• What is a healthy relationship?
• My friend gets mad if I hang out with other people, what should I do?
• What are risky or unhealthy relationships?
• What are the signs that I am in an abusive or unhealthy relationship?
• What is abuse?
• Why are some people violent?
• Why do some people stay in unhealthy or violent relationships?
• Why should I leave?
• How do I get out of an unhealthy or abusive relationship?
• What do I do if a friend tells me that she is in an abusive relationship?
• Should I have my friend talk to her parents or another adult?
• What if my friend won't listen to me and wants to keep the abuse a secret?
• What else do I need to know?
• Who can I call for help?

This information comes from 4 Girls Health, a poject of the National Womens' Health Information Center.

This FAQ was produced by The National Women's Health Information Center.