Your teen years are some of the most exciting and challenging times in your life. Youre meeting new people, forming special friendships and making lifelong decisions. Some of these decisions may involve dating. And while dating can be one of the best things about being a teenager, it brings a host of new feelings and experiences not all of them good. In fact, you or your friends may be dating someone who is overly possessive, controlling or critical. These can be warning signs of potential abuse. A survey conducted this spring showed that 31% of teens ages1317 reported they or a friend experienced dating violence. Thats why we worked with teens around the country to write this handbook. Dating violence is a tough subject to talk about, and we want to offer you guidance on how to recognize it, how to talk about it and where to go for help. Dating violence is also often seen as a womens issue, so many young men may not feel comfortable dealing with it. Weve tried to help change this by providing information for both young women and young men. If youre in a violent dating relationship, or if youre worried about a friend, this handbook is a good place to start finding solutions. It tells the story of Angela and Joe, a fictional teenage couple in a violent relationship, and the friends who care about them. We hope it will raise awareness and help us all work together to create a society intolerant of abuse.