Breakthrough Youth Ministry: Abuse Prevalent in Teenage Relationships

Sep 26, 2008 02:03 PM EDT

Christian Ministry in Hong Kong released a research report on the youth’s love relationships, which pointed out that more than half of the interviewed youths had abusive relationships.

Breakthrough Youth Research Network interviewed around 500 youths in Hong Kong that were between the ages of 10 to 24 and had relationships. The study showed that 45% of the youth had their first relationships before 16-year-old; 10% had their first relationship before 13-year-old; 11% have switched more than 6 relationships; a third of them have ended their relationship within half-a-year.

In the aspect of abuse, around half of those interviewed had been called “idiots” or “fools”; 54% of them had partners who made fun of their body figures; close to 29% of them were physically hurt by their partner; 35.2% of them were sexually-touched without their consent.

According to a media report in Hong Kong, the program director of City University Youth Research said that many youths today would go through abusive treatments or try to satisfy their partner sexually, because they did not receive warmth from their families and had this feeling of insecurity. He recommended for youth to regulate their relationships by listening to each other’s thoughts, learning anger-management, so the condition can improve. If necessary, they should seek professional help and even end their relationship peacefully.

Addressing this problem, some Christian organizations have been implementing preventive measures by teaching youth proper marriage values. In Hong Kong, The City of David Cultural Movement has been paying attention to the love and marriage relationships among the youth, and they are actively promoting “Purity Campus” movements in both grade schools and middle schools, which teaches values of love, such mutual respect and growth, according to the truth.