Teen Dating: Healthy Relationships
When teenagers are dating, they often have not had enough life experience to know if a relationship is healthy or not. There are some definite indicators that are trouble signs, and they include the following:
1) your partner is physically or verbally abusive,
2) they call you names or puts you down,
3) they lie or cheat in any situations, not just with you,
4) their values or morals are of a lower standard than yours,
5) they encourages you to be rude to your parents, or ignore their rules.
6) they criticizes your friends, and discourages you from spending time with them,
7) they are argumentative, and you find yourself repeatedly engaged in conflict.
Unless the teenager has a high level of self-esteem, they may tend to blame themselves for the problems. Alternately, they may fall into the trap of thinking that they can change their partner.
If any of the above indicators are present, it is not a healthy relationship, and, frankly, it’s time to move on. Even a healthy relationship can have its challenges, so why remain in a situation that already has serious strikes against it?
The teenage years are years when those around us should be supportive and encouraging. Dysfunctional relationships at this time can have long term emotional consequences as this is a critical time for the developing sense of self.
If a teenager is having a hard time distancing from this type of relationship, despite urging from friends and family members, professional help is in order.
Copyright © Gwen Randall-Young, All Rights Reserved. Gwen Randall-Young is an author and award-winning psychologist. For permission to reprint this article, or to obtain books, CDs or MP3s, visit www.gwen.ca or follow Gwen on Facebook.
Originally published at https://gwen.ca on May 31, 2022.
