Executive Summary

Using a multi-method methodology—combining a large-scale self-completion survey across eight secondary schools in England, Scotland, and Wales with in-depth qualitative interviews—the report explores the prevalence, impact, and contexts of physical, emotional, and sexual partner violence among young people under 18.

Overview of the Report

Key Findings:

• Prevalence and Dynamics: Teenage partner violence is widespread and causes significant harm to young people’s emotional and physical well-being.

• Gender Disparities: While survey data showed that both boys and girls report using and receiving lower-level physical and emotional aggression, the qualitative impact and severity show a distinct gender division. Girls are significantly more likely to experience severe physical force, sexual coercion, and pervasive emotional control, reporting far greater negative impacts on their mental health, safety, and self-esteem.

• Compounded Vulnerabilities: Experiences of domestic violence within the home, peer violence, and living in areas of high social deprivation increase vulnerability to partner exploitation and abuse.

• Help-Seeking Barriers: Teenagers rarely disclose partner abuse to formal support services or professionals, often due to fears of not being taken seriously, worries about confidentiality, or feelings of shame. Instead, they predominantly confide in peers.

Key Recommendations

• Formal Recognition in Child Protection Frameworks:

  • Local authorities, social care agencies, and health services must formally recognize teenage partner violence as a primary child welfare and safeguarding issue rather than minimizing it as “experimental” adolescent behavior.

• Targeted Prevention & School Curriculum:

  • Schools should implement comprehensive relationship education from an early age, focusing on healthy relationships, consent, gender equality, and recognizing coercive control and emotional abuse.

• Enhancing Help-Seeking & Confidential Services:

  • Support services must build accessible, youth-friendly disclosure pathways that protect confidentiality and address young people’s fears of professional intervention.

  • Peer support and awareness initiatives should be strengthened, given that teenagers overwhelmingly turn to friends first when experiencing relationship abuse.

• Multi-Agency Training & Risk Assessment:

  • Frontline professionals (teachers, social workers, health professionals) need targeted training on statutory guidance (such as Working Together to Safeguard Children) to accurately assess age imbalances, power dynamics, and risk factors in teenage relationships.

• Interventions Addressing Interconnected Violence:

  • Safeguarding interventions must adopt a holistic approach that accounts for the overlap between familial domestic abuse, community/peer violence, and intimate partner exploitation.