Ms. Magazine Blog 7/11/11: Teen Dating Violence: Take it Seriously Before it Happens Again : Ms Magazine Blog. Last week, the Boston area was shocked to hear that the body of Wayland, Mass., high-school graduate Lauren Astley, 18, was found in a marsh in what looks to be an act of teen domestic violence that occurred after Astley ended a three-year relationship with her boyfriend Nathaniel Fujita. As if this wasn’t awful enough, the Boston Globe interviewed a cross-section of Boston area teens and found that, despite the recent tragedy, many of them think they’re “too young” to worry about dating violence.

The Globe reported that many teens believe that relationships are too casual at their age to incite the kind of emotional intensity that results in violence. Relationship advice from health teachers and guidance counselors was described as “sporadic,” perhaps because adults also assume that teens are “too young” for dating violence. The sad truth is they aren’t.