W A S H I N G T O N, August 1 - According to a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, one in five high-school-age girls has been abused, physically and/or sexually. The study, written by Dr. Jay Silverman, an assistant professor of health and social behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health, found that the presence of violence dramatically increases the likelihood of girls engaging in other risky behaviors such as binge drinking, drug abuse and suicide attempts. Below are some statistics about intimate partner violence against young girls and domestic violence in general.

Statistics on Partner Violence Against Young Girls
In 1997, 20.2 percent of female public high school students in Massachusetts reported ever experiencing physical and/or sexual violence from dating partners. In 1999, that percentage was 18.0. (Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey)

Young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rates of violence by current or former intimate partners. (U.S. Department of Justice)

One third of high school and college students experience violence in an intimate relationship during their dating years. According to community-based surveys, more than half of adolescent girls who reported being sexually assaulted were assaulted while on dates. (Women's Health Issues, 1994)

Forty percent of teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend. (Children Now and Kaiser Permanente Poll, 1995)

There were an estimated 4,000 incidents of rape or other types of sexual assault in public schools across the country during the 1996-1997 school year. (U.S. Department of Education)

Three out of every four victims of violence are girls. (Department of Justice Crime Data Brief, 1994)

Statistics on Domestic Violence in General
More than 1.5 million women are physically and/or sexually abused by an intimate partner each year in the United States. (Department of Justice, 2000)

Nearly one in every three adult women experiences at least one physical assault by a partner during adulthood. (American Psychological Association, 1996)

Approximately 4.8 million intimate partner rapes and physical assaults are perpetrated against U.S. women annually. Women who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner averaged 6.9 physical assaults by the same partner. (National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Uniform Crime Reports from the Department of Justice indicate that females are 10 times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than are males.

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