Teenage relationship abuse (TRA) includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse in young people’s intimate relationships and is a growing public health concern. TRA has significant associations with other risk markers including (cyber)bullying, sexting and substance use, as well as negative short and long-term health and social consequences. It affects young people under 16 but remains largely invisible in national data. This study examines temporal trends (a pattern in data that shows how something changes over time) in TRA prevalence among Welsh adolescents and the age gradient in TRA by school year group.

The research team, led by VISION Senior Research Fellow Ruth Weir (City St George’s UoL), and  her consortium colleagues, Niels Blom (University of Manchester) and Polina Obolenskaya (City St George’s) and Katy Barrow-Grint (City St George’s) and Edna Ogada and Honor Young (Cardiff University), provide the first temporal trends in TRA among under 16-year-olds.

Data from four survey years (2017, 2019, 2023, 2025) of the Welsh School Health Research Network (SHRN) Student Health and Wellbeing Survey (SHWS) were analysed, comprising 345,796 pupils aged 11–16 from all maintained secondary schools in Wales. TRA victimisation and perpetration were measured using six items.

The team’s analysis confirms that TRA victimisation and perpetration remain prevalent among 11- to 16 year-olds. TRA among adolescents in Wales increased between 2017 and 2023 before declining in 2025, with a mixed pattern. The exception is emotional victimisation which both rose faster and remained at increased levels. Across the four survey years, one in five pupils reported TRA victimisation and one in eight reported perpetration. All six TRA outcomes increased between 2017 and 2023 before declining in 2025.

By 2025, any victimisation and physical perpetration had returned to 2017 levels; emotional victimisation remained elevated; and other outcomes fell below 2017 levels. A key finding across all four survey years is the bidirectional nature of TRA in under 16s. Sole perpetration is rare, most perpetrators are also victims, which challenges a more simplistic victim/perpetrator binary. Study findings have direct implications for prevention – interventions that separate young people into victim and perpetrator groups may therefore be inappropriate for this age group. 

Recommendation

Universal intervention and support are needed before entering secondary school and whilst in attendence. Any intervention should recognise the bidirectional nature of abuse among this age group.

To download the article: Temporal Trends in Teenage Relationship Abuse Among Welsh Adolescents: Analysis of the Student Health and Wellbeing Survey, 2017-2025