From Holding Hands to Having a Thing to Hooking Up: Framing Heterosexual Youth Relationships

ABSTRACT

The experience of forming romantic attachments during adolescence aids in the development of future relationships. The clearly defined and ordered process of forming these relationships does not seem to exist in adolescent relationships today. This study focuses on the language used to define current dating practices, how parents and youth deviate in these definitions, and the ambiguity associated with adolescent romantic relationship behaviors. Findings indicate several tags applied to youth relationships from talking to dating and youth relationships progress along a continuum with somewhat vague behavioral boundaries. These potentially vague boundaries suggest the need to thoughtfully operationalize the terminology used when assessing dating practices and developing programs for youth and their parents so that efforts to prevent adolescent intimate partner violence are more effective.