Children

Children are overlooked victims of intimate partner sexual abuse. Children may witness the assaults or be forced to take part in the violent acts, see e.g., State v. B.H. 870 A. 2nd 273 (N.J. 2005). They may be sexually and psychologically abused as a way to punish their mother. For example, the DeKeseredy study Separation/Divorce Sexual Assault (2004) describes a woman who found her husband masturbating to Penthouse in front of her children shortly after she told him she was leaving him (at 237). The harm to children is discussed in Katherine Ford’s article, Children's Exposure to Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse, as well as in Lynn Hecht Schafran’s article, Domestic Violence, Developing Brains, and the Lifespan: New Knowledge from Neuroscience and Custody and Visitation.

Teenagers

Awareness of the high incidence of dating violence within teenage relationships and efforts to address it are recent phenomena. For example, Break the Cycle, an organization dedicated to empowering youth to end domestic violence, calls teen dating violence “an epidemic.” A 2016 survey found that roughly 1 in 5 girls aged 15 to 18 reported being sexually abused by an intimate partner in a dating relationship.

— Taylor et al., The National Survey of Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence (STRiV), (2016).

Research on sexual abuse within teen relationships, like the research with respect to adult victims, documents significant rates of co-perpetration of physical and sexual violence. All of the sexually abusive behaviors described in Module I, from birth control sabotage to rape, are present in teen relationships as well.

However, teen victims of intimate partner violence and sexual abuse face additional barriers in seeking help, including:

• The fear that if they report the abuse to a family member they will be punished or forced to break up the relationship.
• Teens prefer to disclose to their peers who may not be equipped to offer assistance.
• There are few protocols in place for screening or assisting teens who are victims of IPV or IPSA.

— Moore, et al., Adolescent Dating Violence: Supports and Barriers in Accessing Services (2015)