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Dating Matters

Dating Matters - Strategies to promote healthy teen relationships.

Dating Matters offers communities free online tools and resources to build capacity for implementing a comprehensive teen dating violence prevention model, learn about tracking and informing local policies, and to educate teachers and people working with youth about teen dating violence (TDV).

More than 1 in 10 high school students have experienced physical or sexual violence by a dating partner in the past year. Dating Matters is a comprehensive prevention model, focused on 11–14 year olds, that promotes respectful, nonviolent dating relationships among youth. The model uses a combination of evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies to target a wide range of factors that can increase risk for teen dating violence. Dating Matters includes seven components that address the needs of youth, parents, educators, schools, youth- and parent-serving community organizations, and public health departments to reinforce healthy relationship behaviors in adolescence and beyond.

Coming in Early 2018: The Dating Matters Toolkit!

Three components of the Dating Matters comprehensive teen dating violence prevention model are currently available on CDC’s VetoViolence website. These include:

Communities will have access to the remaining components of the Dating Matters model and comprehensive implementation guidance with the release of the Dating Matters Toolkit in early 2018. They include:

  • Dating Matters How-To, which contains:
    • Guide to Implementation to help communities build a strong foundation for implementing Dating Matters
    • At-A-Glance briefs that highlight the goals and resources needed to implement each component of Dating Matters to help engage partners and decision-makers
    • Online Facilitator Trainings that provide free, online access to interactive training for youth and parent programs facilitators
    • Coaching Playbook guides Dating Matters Coaches in the supervision and support of parent and youth program facilitators
  • Dating Matters Youth Programs developed by CDC to teach healthy relationship skills to 6th and 7th graders*
  • Dating Matters Parent Programs developed by CDC to help parents of 6th and 7th graders talk to their kids about healthy, respectful relationships *
  • i2i: What R U Looking For Youth Communications Program developed by CDC to reach youth with healthy relationships messaging on social media and at events hosted by older peers
  • Community of Practice provides opportunities for peer support among communities implementing Dating Matters
  • Guide to Using Health Indicator Data to help local health departments identify and track community-level indicators of teen dating violence

Visit CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention’s VetoViolence page for more information and updates or subscribe to our listserv.

*Evidence-based programs for 8th grade youth and parents, Safe Dates and Families for Safe Dates are available directly from Hazelden Publishing.

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