Teens learn about violence; cautioned about danger of relationships gone wrong
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Pittsburgh CAPA students listen to speakers Friday during an assembly about teen dating violence hosted by the Ladies Hospital Aid Society in the school's Black Box Theater.
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In the world of teen dating, where text messages and Facebook and Twitter have intensified the eternal difficulties of young romance, parents and teachers and even teenagers themselves can easily miss the warning signs of love gone dangerously wrong, experts say.
The girl who wants to know where her boyfriend is at all hours of the day. The boy who wants to know what his girlfriend is doing, with whom she's spending time, what she's wearing -- and why -- at all times. Dozens, even hundreds, of texts and tweets throughout the day and night. Pressure to send explicit images or engage in sexual activity.
That kind of attention can seem like a show of deep passion to inexperienced daters, but actually it is a sign of controlling behavior and possible emotional or physical abuse, according to Gary Cuccia, whose 16-year-old daughter was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend shortly after breaking up with him in 2007.
"It's not flattering, it's controlling, and I can guarantee you it will only get worse over time," Mr. Cuccia told a group of about 150 Pittsburgh CAPA students at yesterday's launch of a Ladies Hospital Aid Society campaign against teen dating violence. "I don't want any young person to go through what my daughter went through."
Mr. Cuccia's daughter, Demi Brae Cuccia, was stabbed 16 times on the day after her 16th birthday by her ex-boyfriend, John Mullarkey, who had been a close friend of her older brother and the first boy she ever dated.
Before the murder, Mr. Cuccia said, the only strange things about Mr. Mullarkey, then 18, had been his insistence that Demi Brae give up cheerleading at Gateway Senior High School and the hundreds of texts he sent, begging to talk to her, just after she broke up with him.
He and his wife didn't see the warning signs, and parents often know less about their children's lives than their friends and siblings do, Mr. Cuccia said. That's why students need to learn the warning signs of abuse and speak up to the friend they believe is being abused -- or is abusing -- or get help from a trusted teacher, guidance counselor, parent or other adult, Mr. Cuccia said.
First Published February 11, 2012 12:00 am
