Abstract #61  -  Adolescents perspectives of intimate relationships
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Miss Anik Gevers - UCT
Additional Authors:  Prof Alan J Flisher, Dr Catherine Mathews, Ms C LeFleur, Dr Rachel Jewkes, Dr Marcia Russel, Dr Pam  Cupp,
Aim: Though studies have focused on the prevalence and correlates of problems such as violence and sexual risk-taking in adolescent intimate relationships, little work has sought contemporary adolescents perspectives on these issues. These perspectives are essential in developing an intervention for adolescents that will be both engaging and relevant to youth.
Method / Issue: Twelve focus group discussions and 25 in-depth interviews were conducted with Grade 8 (n=28) and Grade 11 (n=46) female (n=40) and male (n=34) learners recruited from Cape Town area schools.
Results / Comments: Sex, violence, multiple partnerships, peer pressure, rumours or gossip, and dishonesty were the main themes of adolescents reports of intimate relationships and often these issues were identified as being problematic to individuals. Sexual behaviour was identified as a defining characteristic of intimate relationships and descriptions of this behaviour indicated that risky sexual behaviour, alcohol use, and violent behaviour were often intertwined. Multiple partnerships were described as normative behaviour and most participants identified this issue as a cause of violence within relationships. Peer pressure was discussed as influencing almost every sphere of intimate relationships including perceived pressure to be in a relationship, pressure to choose a particular partner, help to initiate a relationship, pressure to engage in certain behaviour, particularly sexual behaviour, within a relationship, and pressure to end a relationship or begin a new relationship. Reports suggest that friends are both a source of positive support and a source of negative pressure in adolescent intimate relationships. Related to this peer influence, many participants discussed how rumours or gossip and dishonesty affected their intimate relationships. Specifically, rumours about what a couple do together and whether one partner in the couple has other partners were frequent and seemed to cause distress in individuals or conflict within the relationship. Dishonesty within intimate relationships was discussed in various contexts including being dishonest to keep a partner happy and keep that partner in the relationship or being dishonest to get a partner to do something (often sexual).
Discussion: These reports of dishonesty and other discussions about decision-making suggest that adolescents often do not communicate openly with their intimate partners. The language used by participants to discuss relationships has been useful in developing the survey instrument used in this project and the intervention content. Participants also shared ideas about issues they felt an intervention should address. All participants noted the need for an intervention to help adolescents with relationship issues. Insights from these group discussions and individual interviews have informed the development of an intervention to prevent IPV and promote healthy relationships. The data give us an idea of how adolescents understand and interact with relationship problems that we seek to address in our intervention.
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