How To Talk To Teens About Economic Abuse

Listen to the youth telling us to take this seriously

Hi everyone! If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you might remember a post called “I Told These Teens To Become Sex Ed Experts. Here's Why.”

In it, I wrote about talking to teens in a leadership program with the nonprofit organization Futures Without Violence. The young people in this program have now completed their project, which is focused on preventing Teen Economic Abuse. They even created and launched a new website, EndTeenEconomicAbuse.org, which is aimed at parents, teachers, and youth themselves. Today, I’m sharing some highlights from this important work.

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Introducing The Concept

“In 2021, we conducted a survey of almost 3,000 teens across the U.S. We discovered that 70% reported experiencing dating violence and 78% reported experiencing at least one form of economic abuse. Yet, less than half considered education or employment sabotage or interference or financial control or exploitation as an aspect of teen dating or domestic violence.” — Futures Without Violence

Teen economic abuse takes many forms, all of which can have a devastating impact on current and future opportunities for a teenager.

By Teens, For Teens - And The Adults Who Support Them

The resources these young people produced are designed to help people learn more about the types of teen economic abuse, how to recognize the signs, and how to talk to the teens in your life. There are lots of for resources and tips at EndTeenEconomicAbuse.org.

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Instagram Takeover

In addition to making a website, the teen fellows recently took over the Futures Without Violence Instagram page and shared a ton of graphics, videos, and information there.

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Video: The Prevalence And Consequences of Teen Economic Abuse

In this recorded webinar, Sarah Gonzalez and Suzannah Rogan from Futures Without Violence shares insights about the research on this topic, and two of the project’s youth fellows, Armaan Sharma and Jessica Kim, share some tips for educators and adults who want to help address this issue. VIEW NOW

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Video: Strategies for Educating On Teen Economic Abuse

In this recorded webinar, expert educators from around the U.S. share the strategies they use to incorporate comprehensive sex education into their curriculum and how those strategies can be applied to educating about teen economic abuse. VIEW NOW

Featured Panelists

• Shael Norris - Founding Executive Director - SafeBAE

• Daniella Thorne - Associate Director, Sexual Health Education - Advocates for Youth

• Christopher Pepper (me!)

• Victoria Ogunleye - Digital Sex Education Manager - Advocates for Youth

• Suzannah Rogan - Senior Program Specialist - Futures Without Violence

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Education Sabotage And Interference

In this video, teen fellow Safiyah provides a primer on education sabotage and interference - a common form of teen economic abuse. This type of economic abuse can impact young peoples’ future education and employment opportunities. Economic abuse comes in many different forms, education interference or sabotage is one form that teenagers experience. Videos like this and the Instagram-ready graphics below are designed to help people better understand the issues.

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Why Educators Should Care About Teen Economic Abuse

In this video, teen fellow Kavya shares why they think people should be concerned about teen economic abuse. Young people in this program created a free downloadable resource that provides more in-depth information about education sabotage and interference as a form of teen economic abuse.

Below are some examples of the messages the teen fellows developed to reach people. Learn more at EndTeenEconomicAbuse.org.

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