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What do you think of when you hear “Red Flags”? Do you think of sports? Chances are that relationships are not the first thing that comes to mind. Just like in sports, relationships have red flags, but these red flags are a little bit different. Red flags in relationships are warning signs that show your relationship can be abusive in the future. Below are some red flags that are common in unhealthy relationships:

Stalking can generally be defined as a pattern of behavior that is directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. This means that stalking is not something that happens just once, but repeatedly over a period of time. Often times we joke about stalking in reference to social media, but it is a real and serious problem. With advances in technology, there has been an increase of stalking through the internet and cellphones.

In high school there is a lot of pressure on us to be “with someone.” If we feel that we are in love, we might settle for situations where there could be abuse. At the time, we might not even realize that the situation is abusive. It is important to recognize some of the obstacles for getting help when you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship.

Abusive relationships are often very complex. If you have never been in an abusive relationship, it might be easy to judge a situation based purely off observations. The question of, “why don’t they just leave” is one of the most commonly asked questions. It is a simple question, but it does not give enough credit to how complicated the situation could actually be. A question like this might make a victim feel as though their fault for staying in abusive relationships. It is important to recognize that there are many different reasons why people might stay in abusive relationships