Many teens mistake abuse with feelings of care and concern. They think that it is flattering when someone is insanely jealous and wants to know what they are up to every minute. Healthy relationships involve trust, consideration and respect. Excessive jealousy is not healthy. Most often, the person who is the object of the other person's jealousy is being mistreated and has given up their time just to pacify them.
Isolation is one of the warning signs of abuse in a teen's relationship. This can be signaled by a drop in the amount of friends they regularly interact with. Emotional changes are another. They may suddenly change from a cheerfulness to a gloom for seemingly no reason. They may change themselves completely in order to impress their significant other. This can be a disguised attempt to make them stop the abuse by giving them exactly what they want.
There are signs to look for in your teen's romantic interest as well. You can usually tell if they have jealousy issues by watching how they react when someone of the opposite sex is around them and your teen. Their background and home life may be warning signs as well. Look for these signs and you can keep your teen out of an abusive relationship, especially if you talk with them and listen to what they have to say.
Another thing about teen abuse is that it is not just happening to girls. Boys are too afraid to talk about it, fearing they will look like they cannot handle an abusive girl when in fact they can, but will not hurt her to help themselves. There are many handbooks, websites and a national hotline to help your teen with relationship abuse. If they feel they cannot talk to you, have the number available for them to use it.
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