It’s no secret that intimate partner violence is a leading killer of women in the United States: More than half of homicides of women are at the hands of a romantic partner, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now it appears that this type of violence is also affecting adolescent girls.

A new study found that of nearly 2,200 homicides of young people from 2003 to 2016, some 7 percent — or 150 of those deaths — were at the hands of current or former intimate partners. Girls made up 90 percent of the victims, underscoring the importance of not discounting early dating relationships as casual or pretend.

“While the dynamics of these relationship may be quite different than among adults, this is a public health issue we need to take seriously,” said Avanti Adhia, who led the study, one of the most comprehensive ever on the topic, which was published in the April issue of JAMA Pediatrics.

Dating violence among teenagers has the potential to lead to death, she went on, and girls are at the highest risk.

Breakups or jealousy precipitated more than a quarter of the homicides, researchers found, and a majority of the deaths involved guns (which are also a major factor in the number of adult women killed by their partners). The average age of girls killed was 17, while their partners were, on average, 21.

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