Are you concerned that you may be abusing your girlfriend or boyfriend? Have friends or family ever told you they thought you were abusive or controlling? Abuse is not part of a normal relationship, even if it doesn’t happen every day. Ask yourself these questions.
Do you ever:
- Call your girlfriend/boyfriend names?
- Text or call them excessively and get upset when they don’t respond?
- Monitor their email or profile on a social networking site?
- Feel you have a right or need to know where they are most of the time?
- Get jealous or angry when they spend time with friends or family?
- Ask them to change their clothes or style of dress?
- Get in their face during a disagreement?
- Push, slap, or punch them for any reason?
- Restrain them to keep them from leaving during an argument?
- Guilt or force them into having sex?
- Threaten to hurt them or yourself if your relationship ever ends?
Help for an Abusive Teen
If you think you’re abusive and want to change – or even if you’re just considering taking steps to change, these tips could be helpful:
