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Adolescence is a period of new experiences, including dating. Romantic relationships can be a source of stress; one-third of teens experience dating violence (Molidor & Tolman, 1998; Straus, 2004). Teens are also at a heightened risk for suicide; it is the third leading cause of death among teens (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2013a). Suicidal ideation, threats, and attempts occur within the context of a relationship where there is also dating violence (Chan, Straus, Brownridge, Tiwari, & Leung, 2008; Else, Goebert, Bell, Carlton, & Fukuda, 2009). Due to life course, adolescence may not have knowledge, experience, or skills to manage these situations. Furthermore, these experiences may shape romantic relationship expectations as adults. Both dating violence and suicidality have short- and long-term effects (for example, see Castellví et al., 2017; Coker et al., 2000; Exner-Cortens, Eckenrode, & Rothman, 2013; Holmes & Sher, 2013; Jouriles, Garrido, Rosenfield, & McDonald, 2009; Magdol et al., 1997; Zaha, Helm, Baker, & Hayes, 2013). However, little is known about how young women that experience teen dating violence and partner suicidality respond (except, see Baker, Helm, Bifulco, & Chung-Do, 2015). This study seeks to explore this gap.

As part of a larger study, 16 young women who had experienced a “bad dating relationship” as a teenager also disclosed that their boyfriends had threatened suicide. These young women completed in-depth, retrospective interviews to discuss their experiences. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using HyperResearch. Life course and grounded theory guided this research.

The young women that experienced suicidal threats by their dating partners were also victims of a range of abusive behaviors in their dating relationships, including verbal, physical, and sexual abuses and controlling behaviors. The young women struggled with how to deal with the suicidal ideation and the abuse concurrently. Some of the young women believed that the threats of suicide were real, and had concerns for their boyfriends’ well-being. Others believed that their boyfriend was using this as a manipulative tactic to get them the stay in the unhealthy relationship. This impacted how young women dealt with and reacted to the abuse, including if they chose to stay in the relationship or not.

This study provides narratives from young women in relationships where there is dating violence and threats of suicide, which adds to our understanding of the dynamics of how life course impacts both dating violence and suicide. The sample is small and not generalizable. Future research should include both partners to provide a more holistic picture of the relationship. Additional research should also examine any differences of experiences based on gender, race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation.

This has serious implications for prevention education and intervention. Policy-makers may want to consider: (1) mandating additional training for teachers and other adults that work with teens, in order to identify warning signs of both dating violence and suicidal ideation, (2) require education for teens on these topics, and (3) ensure evidenced-based interventions are accessible to teens dealing with these issues.

This paper provides a deeper understanding of teen experiences with suicidal threats and how they respond to them within the context of an abusive dating relationship. Policy-makers, advocates, school personnel, and youth may benefit from these findings, particularly in regard to developing appropriate prevention education and interventions.

To analyze the emergence of cyberbullying in the news and to unveil the extent to which this new social problem is being constructed as a moral panic.

Ethnographic content analysis is conducted on a sample of 477 local and national newspaper articles published from 2004 to 2011. Goode and Ben-Yehuda’s five criteria of a moral panic – consensus, concern, hostility, disproportionality, and volatility – are used as a lens to analyze how this issue emerged in U.S. culture.

News coverage of this issue erupted within a very short time period, drawing important attention to a previously unknown social problem facing youth. Yet in the construction of cyberbullying as a new threat to social order, the news coverage sometimes inflates the magnitude and severity of the problem. In doing so, the media work to misrepresent, misinform, and oversimplify what is a more complicated and perhaps not yet fully understood issue among youth today.

Electronic aggression is something that is of growing concern to children, parents, educators, and policymakers. Evidence has begun to show that its effects may be as harmful as face-to-face bullying. Since the media play a vital role in the designation of certain issues as worthy of the public’s attention, it is pertinent that this information is presented in an accurate fashion, rather than simply promoting a moral panic around the topic.

Future research should move beyond print media to examine how TV, popular culture, and social media sites construct this problem. This should include research on the public’s understanding and interpretation of these mediated forms of communication.

The American public greatly esteems their First Amendment right to freedom of speech, but generally understands poorly its true ambit. Unfortunately, this defect in understanding permeates American educational institutions, from the lowest grades to higher education and even professional schools. Students’ pervasive ability to engage in technological speech and expression further complicates the issue, especially when inappropriate or offensive speech originating outside school crosses the geographic boundary and enters school. School administrators at all levels, challenged with maintaining atmospheres of safety and security conducive to learning, are being asked to respond to such student speech, but they fear to exceed the limits of their authority. Cyberbullying and harassing communications continue to distract victims and educators and detract from the quality of education at all institutions. The legal system and judiciary provide little guidance, and what guidance there is suffers from lack of consistent definitions and conflicting analyses. This chapter will review the jurisprudence pertaining to the First Amendment as applied to the school setting. The emphasis will be on legislative, judicial, and societal responses to cyberbullying and cyber harassment in the school setting, from the elementary level to higher education. Finally, recommendations for policies and procedures for dealing with cyberbullying and cyber harassment in schools will be presented.

This paper evaluates the modern baseline presumption of nonconsent in sexual assault (rape) cases in light of different theories of sexuality (feminism on the one hand and sex positivism/queer theory on the other) and in light of how sexuality manifests itself in the lives of contemporary young women. The authors analyze social science literature on contemporary heterosexual practices such as sexting and hook-ups, as well as contemporary media imagery, to inform a contemporary understanding of the ways in which young people perceive and experience sex. Using this evidence as a foundation, the authors reconsider the ongoing utility of a baseline presumption of nonconsent in sexual assault cases. This paper demonstrates the complex relationship between women’s sexual autonomy, the contemporary culture’s encouragement of women’s celebration of their own sexual objectification and the persistence of high rates of unwanted sex. In the end, it demonstrates why a legal presumption against consent may neither reduce the rate of nonconsensual sex, nor raise the rate of reported rapes. At the same time, it shows how the presumption itself is unlikely to generate harmful consequences: if it deters anything, it likely deters unwanted sex, whether consented to or not.

This study illustrates how youth and young adults use boundary-making processes to create a regulated community online.

Ethnographic methods are used to compare deviance models of internet participation with work on digital youth culture.

This paper finds that digital youth draw boundaries around three categories of participation (n00bs, trolls, and idols) to identify new people who need help, ward off bullies, and uphold community ideals.

Contrary to deviance perspectives, this study finds that digital youth use boundary-making processes to cultivate a civil online community.