Teen Dating Violence can be identified quite early in a relationship. Teenagers can identify very easily the early signs of dating violence and thus can protect themselves from being the victim. The presence of these variables does not necessarily mean that an individual is a victim of abuse. Typically, an abuser might exhibit some of the following behaviors that may eventually become abusive:

	Your partner is extremely jealous, but the abuser could say that jealousy is a sign of love.
	Controlling behavior or Possessive. When he/she is always keeping track of you and your activities.
	Tries to control you by being bossy, by giving you orders all the time, making all the decisions and not caring or taking your opinions seriously.
	Unpredictable mood swings. S/He gets upset for no reason.
	Alcohol and drug use. S/He gets violent after using either of the two and may pressure their dates to use the substances as well.
	Explosive temper and sometimes lashes out at partner, yell or call names.
	Isolates you from friends and family in need of more attention for himself/herself.
	Shows hypersensitivity and uses force during an argument.
	Abusers frequently force you to have sex or intimidate him/her so that he/she is afraid to say no.
	Blames others for his problems or feelings.
	Has a history of failed relationships and blames others for all the failures.
	Threatens to hurt or kill him/herself if the partner threatens to break up.
	Broken promises to change their behavior.
	Victim starts isolating him/herself from the important things in life to keep the partner happy.
	You are sometimes afraid of your partner.
	You are often apologizing to friends and families of your partner's behavior.

If you are a teenager involved in an abusive relationship, you need to remember that no one deserves to be abused or threatened. Remember you cannot change your batterer, and in time the violence will get worse. You need to take care of yourself. Talk to a trusted adult or locate a shelter or agency serving victims of domestic abuse in your community. Together, you can talk about making a plan to end the relationship and remain safe.