A proactive approach to couples counseling with adolescents.

Dating and relationships are common among adolescents as they begin to form the foundations upon which they will build future relationships. Although many adolescents seem to follow a pattern of dating and going steady, these relationships do not necessarily follow along an unproblematic course (McDonald & McKinney, 1994). For example, recent research has indicated a rise in dating violence among teens (Cochran, 1994; Kyle, 1991; Sculli, 1992). Not surprisingly, a survey of adolescents found that dating was ranked as one of several major worries that they face (Kaufman, Brown, Graves, Henderson, & Revolinski, 1993)