"If it hurts you, then it is not a joke": adolescents' ideas about girls' and boys' use and experience of abusive behavior in dating relationships.

Full Abstract

This study examined adolescents' ideas about girls' and boys' use and experience of physical and psychological abuse in heterosexual dating relationships. Canadian high school students who were enrolled in Grades 9 and 11 took part in single-gender focus groups. Eight themes emerged from the analysis. The themes highlight the importance teenagers place on context for defining specific behaviors as abusive. They also underscore gender differences in the criteria adolescents use to make these judgments, in the forms of abusive behavior teenagers typically use in a dating relationship, and in the reasons for youths' declining use of physical abuse and increasing use of psychological abuse. These views have important implications for future research and for programs targeting adolescent dating violence.

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Author information

Author/s: Sears, Heather A (HA); Byers, E Sandra (ES); Whelan, John J (JJ); Saint-Pierre, Marcelle (M); Dating Violence Research Team;

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. hsears(-atsign-)unb.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of interpersonal violence (J Interpers Violence), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Sep; vol 21 (issue 9) : pp 1191-207

Dates: Created 2006/08/08; Completed 2006/11/28;

PMID: 16893965, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior - psychology
Aggression - psychology
Canada
Courtship - psychology
Female
Focus Groups

Focus Groups
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Narration
Questionnaires
Students - psychology

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