Relações de namoro entre adolescentes: atravessamentos pela violência.

Abstract

Teen dating violence encompasses physical, sexual, psychological, digital, stalking, and financial violence in a romantic relationship. This phenomenon is considered a public health problem and a predictor of domestic violence. This thesis aimed to understand the dating relationships between adolescents and the possible crossings by violence from a Bioecological perspective. The research, of qualitative nature, used as an investigation method the Ecological Insertion carried out in an NGO in the city of Recife/PE. The field involved “informal conversations” via regular contact with NGO employees, recorded in the field diary, and face-to-face interviews with teenagers. The final sample consisted of eight female and male adolescents aged between 16 and 19 years. The instruments and techniques used were a) Biosociodemographic questionnaire; b) Questionnaire “Knowing dating relationships”; c) “Search for words”; d) Field diary; e) Semi-structured interviews carried out in two meetings with each adolescent. Data were analysed using the thematic content analysis technique. Results are presented and discussed in two studies. The first aimed to understand the dating relationships between adolescents, identifying crossings of violence in their development. The results indicate that i) dating was understood as a phase of the love relationship with the exclusivity of the partnership that precedes the marriage and the beginning of the family itself; ii) the adolescents named the physical and psychological types of dating violence; iii) they perpetrate and suffer psychological, digital and physical violence in their romantic relationships; iv) digital violence occurred in a standard and naturalised way among adolescents, resulting in conflicts, stress and invasion of digital privacy, seen as synonymous with trust and control of fidelity motivated by insecurity in the management of the love relationship. The second study aimed to understand the influence of the context on dating relationships and the strategies adopted by adolescents in the face of violence. As results, the following stand out: i) adolescents were directly or indirectly victims of violence in the main development microsystems - family, school and neighborhood; ii) they were simultaneously exposed to different types of violence in various contexts since childhood, a phenomenon described as poly-victimization; iii) the Internet offered both opportunities and risks for teenagers' dating relationships; iv) the reproduction of social gender patterns was observed, as well as the belief in romantic love, which made girls and boys vulnerable in different ways; v) they resorted mainly to friends as a strategy to face dating violence, as they felt a lack of space and openness for dialogue, in addition to the difference between generations, especially with those responsible for them; vi) the school, the NGO and the Professional Learning Programs were places mentioned for possible future constructions of preventive and interventional actions on dating violence through lectures and conversation circles as constant and not just occasional activities.