“Looking for Love in the Wrong Places”: A Qualitative Exploration of How African American Teens Describe the Etiology of Dating Violence

Background: Teen dating violence is a public health problem with several negative health outcomes.  African Americans appear to be at increased risk for dating violence perpetration and victimization. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore teen dating violence and potential risk factors and triggers among African-American teens to inform prevention programs tailored for this community.

Methods: Male and female African-American teens aged 13-18 were purposively recruited from two New Orleans high schools (n=20). During in-depth interviews respondents were asked about their perceptions of the underlying causes and specific triggers of teen dating violence. Thematic analysis was conducted.

Results: Five categories of risk were identified: individual-level; couple-level; family-level; peer group-level; and community-level. Teens perceived individual-level and family-level factors as the most important reasons for dating violence. Themes associated with individual-level factors were mental-health and emotional issues (e.g., low self-esteem, depression, anger and lack of trust); poor communication skills; and perceived gender norms (e.g., “being the man.”) Themes associated with family-level factors included witnessing intrafamilial violence (e.g., parents/sibling fighting); lack of parental monitoring (e.g., “mom didn’t teach me”); single-parent households (e.g., absent father); and parent-to-child physical abuse. When asked about specific precipitating events, respondents described situations involving lack of trust, jealousy, peer pressure, and “cheating”.

Conclusions: Teens identified mental health and prior experience of family violence as the most important contributors to dating violence programs should address.  Such findings provide “ground-truthing” for commonly held beliefs about the root causes of violence in dating relationships.