Understanding young people's experiences and views of partner violence in teenage intimate relationships

• Main Author: Mcdermott-Thompson, Vicki
• Published: University of East Anglia 2015
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.693519

Adolescence is a critical developmental period in the life course and a time when most young people enter into their first intimate relationships. The significance of a young person’s early intimate relationships are two-fold: firstly they can impact upon a young person’s development, depending upon the nature and quality of the relationship; secondly, they provide a framework for intimate relationships in adulthood. Exploration of behaviours young people think are acceptable and unacceptable within intimate relationships, including experiences and attitudes towards violence in these relationships, has been relatively limited within the UK. Drawing upon feminist criminology and feminist qualitative psychology, this thesis explores young people’s experiences and views of teenage intimate partner violence, with a focus on how young people understand, interpret and make sense of this violence. This research is a mixed methods study. A quantitative online survey was completed by 233 young people aged 16-19 and a series of eight predominantly single gender qualitative focus groups were held with young people aged 16-19. The study addresses a significant gap in the research literature. Firstly, it provides insights into the nature and dynamics of different forms of violence in older adolescents’ intimate relationships. Secondly, it provides a nuanced understanding of what intimate partner violence means to different groups of young people. Thirdly, it outlines what participants perceive young people could or should do if they are in a violent relationship in a five stage model which includes perceived barriers and enablers to recognising and doing something about experiences of partner violence. The perspectives and experiences of the young people in this research illuminate how best to respond to this problem.