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Adolescent African American Males Characterizations of Healthy Dating Relationships: A Challenge to One-dimensional Stereotypes
Donna Howard*, Claude John, Brian Gilchrist, Irwin Royster and Nancy AikenDepartment of Behavioral and Community Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, 2387 SPH, College Park, MD 20742, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Donna Howard
Department of Behavioral and Community Health
University of Maryland School of Public Health
2387 SPH, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Tel: (301) 405-2520
Fax: 301.314-9167
E-mail: dhoward1@umd.edu
Received Date: October 27, 2015 Accepted Date: November 09, 2015 Published Date: November 16, 2015
Citation: Howard D, John C, Gilchrist B, Royster I, Aiken N (2015) Adolescent African American Males’ Characterizations of Healthy Dating Relationship: A Challenge to One-dimensional Stereotypes. J Child Adolesc Behav 3:256. doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000256
Copyright: © 2015 Howard D, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Study background: This study explored adolescent African American (AA) males’ characterizations of healthy teen dating relationships. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted with 18 AA males recruited from schools and community youth groups around Washington DC. Recruitment methods included convenience and snowball sampling. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted. Analysis consisted of open coding, sorting, aggregation and synthesis of responses to two questions: “What do you value in a dating relationship?” and “What makes a relationship healthy?” Through an iterative process, emergent themes and sub-themes were generated. Results: Narratives provided multi-layered, descriptive characterizations of healthy dating dynamics. Four themes- Trustworthy Relationship, Communication, General Connection/Compatibility and Respectful Relationship and seven sub-themes emerged. Conclusion: Adolescent AA males exhibit the capacity to play a central role in the promotion of positive dating relationship dynamics. The lens of first personal narratives challenges one-dimensional stereotypes of young AA males and functionally advances the reclamation of their personal integrity and worth.
