Safe Dates is a SAMHSA Model Program.

By Vangie Foshee, Ph.D., Stacy Langwick, Ph.D. 

(Grades 6-12) Does your school's health, family life, or violence prevention curriculum address dating abuse? Given the fact that up to 38% of high school students report having been a victim of dating violence,* this is a critical issue to address in any comprehensive middle or high school violence prevention program. As the only research-based curriculum of its kind, Safe Dates helps young people recognize the difference between healthy, caring, and supportive relationships, and controlling, manipulative, and abusive dating relationships. Highly engaging and interactive, Safe Dates gets young people thinking about:

• how they want to be treated by a dating partner
• how they want to treat a girlfriend or boyfriend
• what abusive dating relationships look like
• why dating abuse happens and its causes and consequences
• how to tell if they are in an abusive relationship
• what to do about feelings of anger and jealousy
• how to help a friend who might be in an abusive relationship

Safe Dates, proven to be effective with both boys and girls, addresses perpetrators of violence as well as victims. It works as both a prevention and intervention tool, with case studies and activities that are relevant for teens who have not started dating as well as those who have been "going out" for a long time.

Program features
The nine-Session Safe Dates curriculum, which can be delivered in as few as four sessions, includes cost-saving reproducible student handouts. Highlights of the curriculum include a dating bingo game to help young people identify desirable traits in dating partners and a play on dating abuse that was written by high school students.

Other important features of Safe Dates include:

• a Scope and Sequence document and links to national academic standards
• pre- and post-implementation evaluation tools
• parent materials to encourage caregivers to be involed in this issue
• a training outline for enlisting support from school staff or community youth organizations

Scope & Sequence Document
This document is available as a free download for your use. This document provides more background information on the program's research, Scope & Sequence, and related National Academic Standards.

*"Partner Violence Among Adolescents in Opposite-Sex Romantic Relationships: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health," American Journal of Public Health 91, no. 10 (October 2001).