; Whereas a study published in Pediatrics suggests that teen dating violence is a substantial public health problem as victims of teen dating violence are at increased risk of mood and behavioral problems as young adults, and at increased risk of future violence in relationships; Whereas girls victimized by a teen boyfriend reported more heavy drinking, smoking, depression, and thoughts of suicide, and teens of both sexes who were in aggressive relationships were two to three times more likely to be in violent relationships as young adults; Whereas being physically and sexually abused leaves teen girls up to six times more likely to become pregnant and more than twice as likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease; Whereas more than three times as many teens (20 percent) as parents of teens (6 percent) admit that parents know little or nothing about the dating relationships of tweens; Whereas 28 percent of parents are reluctant about discussing dating violence with teens they feel are too young and 8.5 percent of parents feeling their children will learn from experience; Whereas 74 percent of teenage boys and 66 percent of teenage girls say that they have not had a conversation with a parent about dating abuse in the past year; Whereas one in four teens in a relationship say that they have been called names, harassed, or put down by their partner through phone calls and texting; Whereas 70 percent of college students who were in an abusive relationship failed to realize that they were in an abusive relationship, and 60 percent of such students said that no one stepped in to help them when they were in an abusive relationship; Whereas the severity of violence among intimate partners has been shown to be greater in cases where the pattern of violence was established in adolescence