Society's Influences on Decision-Making for Adolescents Regarding Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Adolescence is an important time in the formation and exploration of romantic relationships (Furman, 2002). Due to this, some may consider this to be an important time period to promote healthy sexual and relationship attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Additionally, romantic relationships among adolescents are found to lack research compared to those of adults, showing the need for more studies to be conducted among this population (Whittaker, Alder-Baeder & Garneau, 2014). The purpose of this study is to understand how society influences entering healthy, romantic relationships and to understand how adolescents conceptualize a healthy, romantic relationship. Using both a survey and focus groups, data were collected from five adolescents who were members of a local Boys and Girls Club surrounding the implementation of the Love Notes curriculum. This study served to answer a) how society influences entering healthy, romantic relationships, b) what adolescents conceptualize to be a healthy, romantic relationship and c) discover if this conceptualization of healthy relationships changes from pre-focus group to post-focus group. Through the theory of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model, results found that adolescents are influenced regarding healthy, romantic relationships on a multitude of systemic, societal levels. These include peers, family, schools and social media. Furthermore, these results suggested that societal levels are influential both individually and by interacting together.