ACOG educational bulletin. Adolescent victims of sexual assault. Number 252, October 1998. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Acquaintance rape and date rape are widespread problems among adolescents. Clinicians are faced with the challenging responsibility of identifying victims and providing effective interventional and preventive counseling. Recognizing the behavioral signals exhibited by victims and understanding adolescents' attitudes toward violence can help the health care provider to screen patients for current or past assaults. All adolescents need to be empowered with preventive strategies to avoid future violence in their relationships. Obstetrician-gynecologists must work with other health care and legal professionals to develop approaches to help adolescents. The prevalence of adolescent victimization warrants routine screening and effective counseling strategies by all obstetrician-gynecologists.
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011902:Rape / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology