"Being a teenager is a troubling time. While adjusting to all the changes going on both in your biology and your responsibilities, making the right decisions can be hard when it comes to topics such as relationships. In this article, we'll offer some statistics regarding teenage relationships so that you can better understand exactly what's in store for the average teenager who is dating.

While domestic violence is a terrible aspect of adult relationships, few adults realize that this problem also occurs in their sons and daughters. A study conducted by "Children Now" in 1995 saw that a full 89 percent of teens have been in dating relationships and a whopping 40 percent of all teenagers know someone their age that was beaten or abused by a boyfriend in a relationship. This is a serious problem that every parent needs to watch out for to ensure the health and safety of their children. Another study, conducted by Silverman, Raj, Mucci and Hathaway in 2001 showed that young women who were in relationships that involved violence were more likely to abuse substances, develop eating disorders, conduct risky sexual behaviors, get pregnant, and even commit suicide. As you can see, domestic violence in teenagers is very worrisome for a host of reasons.

In the good news department, the number of teen pregnancies occurring in the United States has been declining since the early nineties. These decreases are found across the board, with age, marital status, and ethnicity not being a significant factor in the decrease, representing a uniform drop. Studies show that this drop in teen pregnancy can be due to the greater use of contraceptives by teens. Lowered rates of sexual activity amongst adolescents also are a factor in the declining rate. However, the teen pregnancy rate in the United States is still one of the highest rates in any industrialized nation. The use of contraceptives needs to be encouraged by all parties, regardless of religion or creed. If a teenager has sex unprotected, they run a risk of getting pregnant that is approximately 90%.

One aspect of teenage pregnancy that is frightening is the number of adult males that are having sexual relationships with teenage females. In cases where a girl aged 15 to 17 gets pregnant, over 50% of the time, an adult male is the father. A study conducted in California showed that seven out of ten teenage births were caused by men aged twenty or above.