Fewer than one-in-six of 16-year-olds surveyed in Northern Ireland – 325 of 2,069 – had heard of coercive control and knew what it meant, according to research findings.
To gauge young people’s understanding of a behaviour which became a criminal offence in the province last year, Ulster University, Queen’s University Belfast and the Northern Health Trust jointly conducted a study entitled Young People’s Understanding of Coercive Control in Northern Ireland.
Though many respondents understood the abusive nature of “obvious and deliberate” coercive and controlling behaviours presented to them, they do not recognise the terminology used and, therefore, the important nuances which separate a ‘normal’ relationship from a coercive and controlling one, the BBC reported them as saying.
If young people knew about coercive control, they might seek help if they experienced it, the researchers argued.
