Teenage violence in romantic relationships is no laughing matter.  Many people are only aware of the kind of teenage violence that goes on in public, but there are plenty of romantic relationships that teenage violence plays a factor in, and this kind of domestic youth violence in America is an issue that is all to often ignored.  The kinds of teenage violence that you see on the six o' clock network news on television is talked about often by cultural leaders, politicians, and other prominent members of society, but the kind of teenage violence that goes on behind closed doors between romantic partners is rarely discussed, and is almost entirely ignored on a national scale.  However, just because domestic teenage violence rarely if ever makes the front page does not mean that we as a society can afford to ignore this epidemic.

Youth violence in romantic relationships is an early manifestation of what can later prove to be a truly dangerous dynamic.  Teenage violence towards a romantic partner is a good indication of serious psychological and behavioral problems that are almost guaranteed to become more dangerous the longer they go untreated.  There is no easy answer to preventing teenage violence, and there is no surely successful treatment for somebody who displays violent tendencies towards a romantic partner at a young age or at any age.  However, it is absolutely crucial that we as a society begin to deal with the realties of teenage violence in romantic relationships so that solutions to these problems can begin to be found.

The longer we deny the fact that there is teenage violence in romantic relationships and the longer we refuse to discuss the issue of teenage violence in romantic relationships on a national scale alongside issues like drug abuse and other major societal problems, the longer it will take before we can make any progress on the journey towards eradicating teenage violence in romantic relationships completely.  The less we face the problem, the less we learn about what causes teenage violence in romantic relationships, what enables or discourages tendencies towards teenage violence in romantic relationships, and how we as a society can take steps to stop teenage violence in romantic relationships before it starts by recognizing the dynamics that create it.  The clock is ticking and the race is on to stop teenage violence in romantic relationships, but we as a society haven't even begun to turn the key in the ignition yet, so there is little hope that we will be able to get to the finish line any time soon.

In addition to learning how to prevent teenage violence in romantic relationships, we also need to learn more about how to treat youth violence in romantic relationships.  Putting our energies into learning how to rehabilitate those young people who have committed teenage violence in romantic relationships is something that is a crucial part of the process of wiping teenage violence in romantic relationships out of existence entirely.  If we begin to find solutions to this problem as soon as possible, we might live to see the end of teenage violence in romantic relationships, but if we don't start looking for answers now we are guaranteed not to find them for quite some time to come.