Perspectives On Teen Dating From Hard-to-Reach Parents

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Violence Prevention is developing a parent-focused program, as part of a larger comprehensive initiative, to promote respectful, nonviolent dating relationships for youth in high-risk urban communities (YHRUC). Due to concentrated poverty, lack of resources, and exposure to community violence, YHRUC may be at an increased risk of teen dating violence (TDV). In addition, few TDV prevention programs exist for this audience.

The research helped to gain understanding of parents’ attitudes around teen dating, knowledge of teen dating violence and related topics, and explored their reactions to an existing parent-focused curriculum.    

Methods: 

We conducted 15 six-person focus groups comprised of the guardians of 11-14 year old teens, with approximately 90 participants in three cities across the United States in February and March 2011. Participants predominately consisted of Hispanic and African American parents living in urban communities, and falling into the lower third of media household income.

 

The research sought to 1) explore whether the parent-focused TDV prevention curriculum is of interest to parents and barriers for parents to participate; 2) test messages to identify the type of information that will "hook" parents to want to learn more about TDV; 3)understand what parents perceive as priorities for positive and effective parenting; 4) test TDV themes to understand which resonate most among parents; and 5) explore what parents view to be the best sources of information on effective parenting/TDV and preferred method for utilizing resources.  

Results:  In general, the research suggests that parents have difficulty thinking about their teens dating. Parents are in denial about their teen dating, and believe that discussing it will encourage dating behaviors. They consistently explained that a healthy teen relationship was no relationship. In general, parents reacted positively to the parent-focused TDV prevention curriculum, as they feel ill equipped to have "dating" conversations with their teens and are unaware of other such programs. In addition, parents were often surprised, and sometimes unconvinced, by the realities of teen dating violence. Results for each of the research objectives, as well as detailed findings for different program components will be discussed.    

Conclusions: 

This primary research represents a significant contribution to the public health/communications field, as it provides valuable insight into an audience for which limited information is available. Additionally, these findings suggest several key considerations for parental-focused program development.    

Implications for research and/or practice: 

These findings translate into actionable learnings for designing a parent-focused program on healthy teen dating. For example, developers must carefully position the program, since this audience does not believe their teens are dating; should promote the more general idea of support for guiding their teens through adolescence; and consider a program structure that lends flexibility to help overcome the audience’s barriers to participating.