A worrying new report from the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) reveals that nearly half of teenage children who have been in a relationship have experienced violent or controlling behaviours from a partner.
Based on a survey of 10,000 children aged 13 to 17 across England and Wales, the report examines how boys and girls experience violence. It found that 27% of teens have been in a relationship over the past year, and of those, 49% experience some form of violent or controlling behaviour.
The type of violent and controlling behaviours that teenagers reported experiencing in their relationships include:
- 20% say they were pressured or forced into sexual activity against their will.
- 19% reported being physically assaulted (e.g. hit, kicked or shoved).
- 17% had explicit images or videos of themselves shared online without their consent.
- 27% said they were made to feel afraid to disagree with their partner.
- 26% said their partner made them feel scared to break up with them.
Vulnerable teens at higher risk
The YEF’s research shows that certain vulnerable groups are at significantly higher risk of experiencing relationship violence. For instance, 83% of teenage children involved in gangs and 79% of those who showed signs of exploitation (such as being asked to hold drugs, weapons or money) reported experiencing violent or controlling behaviour.
Children with special educational needs, those excluded from school and those supported by social workers were also more likely to face relationship violence than their peers.
Sexual violence online
Online, sexual violence is even more widespread – 27% of all 13 to 17-year-olds said they’d seen images or threats of sexual assault, and 33% had encountered content promoting violence against women and girls.
Gaps in lessons on healthy relationships
While 76% of teenage children received lessons on dating and relationships in the past year, there are notable gaps in the content. Over half (55%) had lessons on sexual consent, 43% on harassment and 40% on building healthy, respectful romantic relationships. However, fewer teens received practical advice on recognising or addressing unhealthy relationships.
Reflecting on her experiences in school, Martha Chapman-Nisar (aged 18), a YEF Youth Advisory Board member, said, “From Year 7 we had this lesson called Belief and Values, which is basically like RE and PHSE put together, and there would be a topic every year on healthy relationships. But it wasn’t a prioritised topic. A lot of the time it was crammed into a couple of lessons, and it wasn’t an engaging lesson either. There were a lot of jokes made in those lessons about consent and things that I don’t think were shut down quite appropriately.”
Though schools are delivering lessons on healthy relationships, YEF’s research suggests these lessons may not be reaching the children who need them most. Children who reported perpetrating sexual violence were significantly less likely to say they had received lessons on consent — 39% compared to 55% of all 13 to 17-year-olds. They were also less likely to report having lessons on sexual harassment (31% vs. 43% of all children).
What works to prevent relationship violence
The YEF Toolkit identifies several effective strategies for preventing relationship violence.
Research shows that specialist lessons on relationship violence can reduce dating violence by 17% on average. These lessons help young people recognise unhealthy relationships and challenge harmful attitudes.
Bystander intervention training was also found to be effective, reducing participants’ involvement in sexual assault by an average of 14%. These programmes, typically delivered in secondary schools, further education institutions and universities, address topics such as sexual consent, misconceptions about perpetrators and debunk myths about victim behaviour in sexual violence.
Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Jess Phillips said:
“All children deserve to grow up in a safe environment – so this survey showing that 49% of teenagers have experienced some form of violent or controlling behaviour is heartbreaking and deeply concerning.
“We are committed to using every tool at our disposal to achieve our mission of halving violence against women and girls in a decade. Prevention and education are absolutely fundamental to our approach and we’re considering a range of actions to address teenage relationship abuse, including supporting our education system to teach children about respectful and healthy relationships and consent.”
Jon Yates, CEO of the Youth Endowment Fund, said: “Our findings are alarming, but they make one thing clear — high-quality relationships and sex education is essential. We need to teach boys and girls to recognise harmful behaviours and safely speak up or seek support when boundaries are crossed. Research shows these lessons can make a difference. It’s vital we equip young people with the skills and confidence to protect themselves and others.”
Lucy Emmerson, Chief Executive of the Sex Education Forum, said: “Relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) is compulsory in secondary schools but continues to fall down the priority list in the timetable. Students need to learn what a healthy relationship looks like and, crucially, the skills to prevent and stop unhealthy behaviours.
“Young people are calling out for RSHE lessons that are delivered by confident teachers and give them a safe space for discussion about the challenges that they are navigating in an increasingly digitalised world, and advice on accessing help.
“Investment in prevention and training for evidence-based RSHE for schools is urgently needed.”
The YEF’s annual Children, Violence and Vulnerability report offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of children’s experiences with violence in England and Wales. The findings in this release are from the third report in the series, How do boys and girls experience violence? Previous reports in this year’s series include Who is affected by violence? and What role does social media play in violence affecting young people?