Department of Women, Children and Family Nursing, College of Nursing, Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA.
College of Arts and Science Communication, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
Am J Mens Health. 2022 Sep-Oct;16(5):15579883221126884. doi: 10.1177/15579883221126884.
About one in eight U.S. high school students in Grades 9 to 12 report experiencing teen dating violence (TDV) in the form of physical, sexual, or psychological dating violence in the past year in person, on school grounds, and online. Compared with their urban counterparts, rural teens face nearly double the rate of physical dating abuse and an elevated risk of experiencing multiple forms of violence. Rural young males are exposed to regional masculinities and gender norms that may simultaneously promote female subordination (a prelude to dating violence) while impeding help-seeking intentions. We used an interpretive and dialectical approach grounded in Relational Dialectics Theory to explore how rural young males perceive and describe their own risk of experiencing and perpetrating dating violence and the factors contributing to their help-seeking intentions and behaviors. Data from three focus groups and individual interviews with 27 rural young males (ages 15-24) were collated. We identified two central dialectical themes described as (a) Social Tension Dialectics (subthemes include: Abusive vs. Unhealthy Relationships: A Dialectic of Language; #MeToo vs. #WeToo: A Dialectic of Victimhood; "It's All Country Boys": A Dialectic of Masculinity) and (b) Help-Seeking Dialectics demonstrating the dual roles Religion, School Guidance Counselors, Peer Mentors, and Social Cohesion play in promoting or preventing dating violence. Overall, we found dialectic tensions in rural youth risk perceptions about dating violence. These findings bear implications for advocates and practitioners working with rural youth in planning developmentally and culturally appropriate TDV prevention programs, offering policy and research-relevant insight.
大约每 8 名美国 9 至 12 年级的高中生报告在过去一年中经历过恋爱暴力，包括身体、性或心理上的恋爱暴力，无论是在现实生活中、校园内还是网络上。与城市同龄人相比，农村青少年遭受身体恋爱虐待的比率几乎高出一倍，而且面临多种形式暴力的风险也更高。农村年轻男性面临着区域性的男性气质和性别规范，这些规范可能同时促进女性的从属地位（恋爱暴力的前奏），同时阻碍他们寻求帮助的意愿。我们使用扎根于关系辩证法理论的解释性和辩证方法，探讨农村年轻男性如何感知和描述自己遭受和实施恋爱暴力的风险，以及促成他们寻求帮助的意图和行为的因素。我们对 27 名农村年轻男性（年龄在 15 至 24 岁之间）进行了三次焦点小组和个人访谈，收集了数据。我们确定了两个中心辩证主题，描述为（a）社会紧张关系辩证法（包括：虐待与不健康的关系：语言的辩证法；#MeToo 与#WeToo：受害者身份的辩证法；“全是乡下男孩”：男性气质的辩证法）和（b）寻求帮助的辩证法，展示了宗教、学校指导顾问、朋辈导师和社会凝聚力在促进或预防恋爱暴力方面的双重作用。总的来说，我们发现农村青年对恋爱暴力风险的认知存在辩证紧张关系。这些发现对与农村青年合作的倡导者和实践者具有重要意义，有助于他们在制定发展和文化上适当的恋爱暴力预防计划时，提供政策和研究相关的见解。
