Understanding Abuse in Teen Dating Relationships through Concept Mapping

• In Event: Conceptualizing and Measuring Abuse in Adolescent Dating Relationships

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to directly compare teen and adult conceptualizations of healthy and unhealthy relationship characteristics to better inform teen dating violence prevention and intervention efforts. Concept mapping, a mixed-methods group conceptualization approach, was used to capture, compare and visually represent the perspectives of youth ages 14-22 and adult researchers and practitioners nationwide. Participants described specific characteristics of teen dating relationships, then individually sorted the ideas based on their understanding of relatedness (N=96), and rated each idea on perceived frequency (N=304) and desirability (N=264). Multivariate statistical analyses were applied to the aggregated sort data to produce a group concept map, showing a relational framework based on the combined perspectives of youth and adult participants.
The map and ratings reveal nine constructs that describe teen dating relationships, as defined by youth and adult participants, and overall agreement on the frequency and desirability of particularly healthy and unhealthy aspects of relationships. The results lend general support to the approaches used by adult researchers and practitioners, and provide rationale for further research on ideas conceptualized differently among youth and adults.

Authors

• Carrie Mulford, National Institute of Justice

• Alyssa Goldman, Concept Systems Inc.