Date
rape
victims
tend
to
share
cer-
tain
characteristics:
®
They
are
unwary,
even
naive;
®
They
allow
themselves
to
be
alone
too
soon
with
a
person
they
do
not
know
well;
®
They
often
suffer
from
low
self-
esteem
and
inability
to
be
assertive.
Other
tacts
that
have
emerged
from
studies
of
date
rape:
®
Victimizers
are
more
sexually
active
than
other
males,
and
often
have
a
history
of
antisocial
behavior;
®
In
many
cases,
there
is
a
prevail-
ing
attitude
or
a
local
societal
standard
that
encourages
males
to
act
aggres-
sively.
Prevention
of
sexual
assault,
and
particularly
date
rape,
should
be
a
major
concern
of
SDA
secondary
schools
and
colleges.
Schools
must
make
clear
that
there
is
never
any
legitimate
excuse
for
silent
or
date
rape;
carefully
supervise
the
early
stages
of
dating;
encourage
group
ac-
tivities
or
double
dating
until
acquain-
tance
is
well
developed;
develop
educa-
tional
programs
explicitly
detailing
proper
sexual
behavior
and
attitudes
for
both
men
and
women;
offer
train-
ing
sessions
to
help
students
acquire
self-confidence
and
assertiveness
skills;
encourage
reporting
and
prosecution
of
improper
conduct;
and
teach
young
women
how
to
resist
assault.
Addressing
the
Effects
of
Violence
School
employees
need
to
under-
stand
both
the
physical
and
emotional
effects
of
violence.
The
psychological
toll
of
sexual
assault
can
be
especially
devastating.
A
large
cross-sectional
survey
of
two
Los
Angeles
communi-
ties
compared
lifetime
diagnoses
of
nine
major
mental
disorders
between
those
who
reported
having
been
sexu-
ally
assaulted
at
some
time
in
their
lives,
and
those
who
had
not.!*
Sexual
assault
was
a
strong
predictor
of
major
depressive
episodes,
substance
abuse,
and
anxiety
disorders
such
as
phobias,
panic
disorder,
and
obsessive/compul-
sive
behavior.
In
addition
to
prevention
programs,
schools
should
offer
counseling
and
crisis
intervention
programs,
or
make
professional
referrals,
in
order
to
assist
those
who
have
suffered
sexual
vio-
lence.
Suicide
Prevention
Another
form
of
violence—suicide—
is
becoming
more
of
a
problem
in
Adventist
schools.
Many
teachers,
from
junior
high
to
college
professors,
know
at
least
one
student
who
has
attempted
suicide
during
the
past
year.
Research
has
found
that
suicide
is
Few
schools
have
developed
any
written
or
oral
procedures
to
pre-
vent
violence
or
to
deal
with
the
consequences
when
it
occurs.
related
to
dysfunctional
family
life,
stress,
chemical
addiction,
lack
of
communication
with
significant
others,
as
well
as
to
the
death
by
suicide
of
a
close
familv
member
or
friend.'®
The
second-leading
cause
of
teenage
deaths
in
the
United
States,
suicide
strikes
every
socioeconomic
group.
There
are
350
suicide
attempts
for
every
completed
suicide
among
high
school
students.
Three
percent
of
all
high
school
students
will
attempt
sui-
cide
in
any
given
month."
Teachers
and
administrators
must
be
alert
to
the
symptoms
of
suicidal
stu-
dents,
Loneliness,
shyness,
withdrawal,
tenseness,
extreme
perfectionism,
con-
Picture
removed