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An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships

Includes bibliographical references.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gevers, Aní­k
Other Authors: Flisher, Alan J
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author Gevers, Aní­k
author2 Flisher, Alan J
author_browse Flisher, Alan J
Gevers, Aní­k
author_facet Flisher, Alan J
Gevers, Aní­k
author_sort Gevers, Aní­k
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/12348
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:13.565Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2015
publishDateRange 2015
publishDateSort 2015
publisher Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health
publisherStr Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/12348 An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships Gevers, Aní­k Flisher, Alan J Mathews, Catherine Jewkes, Rachel Psychiatry Includes bibliographical references. Intimate relationships in adolescence play an important role in psychosocial development and can impact on relationships during adulthood. There is a need for evidence-based interventions to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV), promote sexual and reproductive health, and equitable, enjoyable relationships during adolescence. A nuanced understanding of contemporary adolescents' intimate relationships is needed to inform intervention development. A series of studies was undertaken to explore (a) contemporary adolescents' ideas about and experiences of relationships; (b) young adolescents' sexual behaviour and dating; (c) adolescents' conceptions of a good relationship; and (d) published-evidence guidelines for developing school-based violence prevention interventions. For study (a), qualitative data were collected during focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with 14-18 year olds. Survey data from 13-16 year olds (for study b) and 15-18 year olds (for study c) were analysed using regression analyses. Adolescents’ intimate relationships are fluid and unstructured, highly gendered, and greatly influenced by peer relationships; however, experience with relationships and sex are varied. For girls, good relationships were associated with having a mutual main partnership with an older, educated boyfriend in which there was good, open communication particularly about sexual and reproductive health. For boys, a mutual main partnership and very little quarrelling were associated with good relationships. Young adolescents' reported engaging in a variety of sexual behaviours ranging from kissing to sexual intercourse with the former more common than the latter. These findings indicate a need for early interventions that are carefully adapted and acceptable to adolescents who have varying levels of experience with relationships, sex, and violence. Adolescents would benefit from developing gender equitable attitudes; critically reflecting on their ideas and practices related to good and poor relationships; building sexual decision-making skills to better prepare them to develop and maintain good, healthy relationships and end poor or abusive ones. Interventions should incorporate adolescents' perspectives and balance evidence-based best practice and resource availability. 2015-02-03T18:32:48Z 2015-02-03T18:32:48Z 2013 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12348 eng application/pdf Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Gevers, Aní­k
An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships
title_full An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships
title_fullStr An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships
title_full_unstemmed An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships
title_short An exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents' intimate relationships
title_sort exploration of the nature of contemporaty adolescents intimate relationships
topic Psychiatry
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12348
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