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Proving Their Love: Violence And Gender Norms In Descriptions Of Relationships Among Rural Mexican Adolescents, Heidi Adams Rueda, Steven Hoffman, Kaitlin Grytza

Social Work Faculty Publications

Mexican youth from impoverished areas are at increased risk for experiencing relationship violence. Research in the United States has suggested that perpetration may be contextualized by culturally-influenced gender values, specifically performance of negative aspects of male masculinity (i.e., machismo) and its female counterpart (i.e., marianismo). This study utilized focus group methods to explore how middle school adolescents (N = 98) from a rural area of Central Mexico differentiate between healthy and unhealthy dating relationships.

We evoked a feminist developmental lens to interpret themes which centralized males as physical and sexual aggressors and to offer culturally-relevant program and practice recommendations.

Help-Seeking And Help-Offering For Teen Dating Violence Among Acculturating Mexican American Adolescents, Heidi Adams Rueda, Lela Rankin Williams, Julie L. Nagoshi

Social Work Faculty Publications

Help-seeking sources, motivations, and barriers concerning teen dating violence are rarely co-examined alongside help-offering processes and messages, and both are understudied among minority youth populations. This study sought the perspectives of Mexican American adolescents (ages 15 to 17) concerning their preferences and experiences with both help-seeking and help-offering. Twenty focus groups (N = 64 adolescents) were divided by gender and by acculturation level to allow for group comparisons. Friends and supportive family members were primary sources of help, although adolescents voiced a number of barriers to help-seeking. The most prominent barrier was fear they would be told to leave …

Trust, Cheating, And Dating Violence In Mexican American Adolescent Romantic Relationships, Lela Rankin Williams, Heidi Adams Rueda, Julie L. Nagoshi

Social Work Faculty Publications

Many adolescents experience some aspect of cheating in their romantic relationships, yet developmental and cultural influences on this experience are not well understood. A grounded theory approach was used to uncover the processes through which cheating resulted in dating violence among 64 Mexican American adolescents (15 to 17 years old). Focus groups, separated by level of acculturation and gender (N = 20), revealed paradoxical expectations for trust and cheating in romantic relationships. Low acculturated youth, particularly males, held broader definitions of cheating behaviors, used peers to monitor cheating behaviors, and took breaches of cheating more seriously. Males were perceived …

Mexican American And European American Adolescents' Dating Experiences Across The Ecosystem: Implications For Healthy Relationships Within An Ecodevelopmental Framework, Heidi Adams Rueda, Julie L. Nagoshi, Lela Rankin Williams

Social Work Faculty Publications

Dating health interventions that target the complex, multi-systemic spheres in which adolescents experience their first romantic relationships are required. This study utilizes an ecodevelopmental approach to better understand Mexican American and European American youths' perceptions of how peers, parents, school, and the media act both independently and collectively to affect their dating lives, also elucidating how such systems are at times in conflict. Seventy-five middle adolescents participated in focus groups divided by gender and ethnicity to uncover differences and similarities within and across groups. Findings underscore the importance and widespread effects of romantic relationships for adolescents' social development and the …

“It’S Not Just You Two”: A Grounded Theory Of Peer-Influenced Jealousy As A Pathway To Dating Violence Among Acculturating Mexican American Adolescents., Heidi Adams Rueda, Lela Rankin Williams

Social Work Faculty Publications

Objective: To develop a deeper understanding of how jealousy escalates to physical dating violence within Mexican American adolescent romantic relationships. Method: Using grounded theory, 20 focus groups of self-identified Mexican American adolescents (N = 64; 15–17 years old) were analyzed by level of acculturation and gender. Results: Three distinct “jealous” typologies resulting in dating violence were identified: normative jealousy (typically highly acculturated or bicultural male and female adolescents), jealous and possessive (typically bicultural male adolescents), and jealous and accepting of dating violence norms (typically low acculturated male adolescents). Across types, jealousy was upheld within a peer culture that constructed loose …

Supervisors Behaving Badly: Witnessing Ethical Dilemmas And What To Do About It, Andrea N. Cimino, John Rorke, Heidi Adams Rueda

Social Work Faculty Publications

The NASW Code of Ethics (1996) guides social workers’ professional conduct, but provides little instruction when one’s own supervisor behaves unethically. Using student-collected interviews, we found six typologies of supervisors behaving badly, and used descriptive qualitative analysis to outline steps taken to navigate the situation. Results hold pedagogical relevance to social work practice.

Friends With Benefits Or “Friends” With Deficits? The Meaning And Contexts Of Uncommitted Sexual Relationships Among Mexican American And European American Adolescents, Lela Rankin Williams, Heidi Adams Rueda

Social Work Faculty Publications

Using focus groups, this study sought to understand and compare how Mexican American (n = 41, M = 16.0 years old, SD = .96) and European American (n = 34, M = 16.1 years old, SD = .64) youths conceptualize and experience “friends with benefits” relationships (FWBRs). Contrary to the implied nature of friendship, partners did not show caring and viewed FWBRs as a means to meet sexual needs. The “benefits” of this arrangement included guilt-free pleasure, little responsibility, the freedom to date others, or to remain available for a more desirable partner. The inherent deficits of FWBRs, …

What They Wish They Would Have Known: Support For Comprehensive Sexual Education From Mexican American And White Adolescents' Dating And Sexual Desires, Heidi Adams Rueda, Lela Rankin Williams

Social Work Faculty Publications

Focus groups were conducted to assess what Mexican American and White male and female adolescents wished they had known about romantic and sexual relationships. Relevant gender and ethnic differences emerged in adolescents' desires and findings across all groups supported a need for comprehensive sexual education that contextualizes sexual activity within a framework that emphasizes socio-emotional skills and well-being. Adolescents' desires were emotional, relational, physical and interpersonal in nature. Youth preferred parents and school educators as key sources of information and support. Recommendations for prevention programming and policy are discussed.

Advice From Teens To Teens About Dating: Implications For Healthy Relationships, Heidi Adams Rueda, Lela Rankin Williams

Social Work Faculty Publications

Seventy-five Mexican American and White male and female adolescents were asked in focus groups to offer advice to other adolescents pertaining to dating relationships. Across ethnicities and sexes, “Stay on your feet” was the most prominent advice given, followed by advice to “Know when it's right”. “Have good reasoning…especially about that was a prominent theme among females; Mexican American females focused more on pressure associated with sexual activity while White females embedded their advice more often within futuristic and long-term relationship goals. Females offered roughly three times more relationship advice than did males and dialogued collaboratively at greater length, enriching …