Evidence of Gender Violence Negative Impact on Health as a Lever to Change Adolescents' Attitudes and Preferences towards Dominant Traditional Masculinities

Evidence-Based Reconstruction of Memories of a Disdainful Hookup: Identifying Risk Factors and Preventing Further Victimization

Autobiographical memories of close relationships have been shown to have strong influence in health and life. Yet, there is no research published about longitudinal memory reconstruction of violent sporadic relationships while reading and discussing scientific evidence on gender violence victimization. This article presents a novel case of the reconstruction throughout time of the memory of a disdainful hookup experienced by a young woman. The victim's diary and an interview were the sources of data collection. The analytical categories were developed in dialogue with the participant. The results indicate that, as the subject learned scientific evidence on gender violence in sporadic relationships, she progressively recalled details of the episode that she had self-censored before, became aware of the very violent nature of the hookup, rejected the relationship, and freed her desire for satisfactory romantic relationships.

Disdainful Hookups: a Powerful Social Determinant of Health

The health consequences of gender violence, a global health and social problem, are increasingly studied. Among its roots, research has identified a coercive dominant discourse imposing the idea that masculinities and relationships marked by abuse and domination are more attractive than egalitarian ones. To prevent the health consequences of gender violence, it is necessary to understand the factors that lead many adolescents to fall into it. This study aims to identify the specific mechanisms by which the coercive dominant discourse manifests in the peer group and its consequences for adolescents. Forty-one 15- and 16-year-old female adolescents from three high schools in Barcelona participated in the study. Eight communicative discussion groups were conducted to deepen on participants' perceptions regarding how peer interactions promote the learning of attraction to violence in sexual-affective relationships. The results show that the participants perceived and experienced different types of coercion to have violent relationships in their peer group interactions. Those interactions fostered the reproduction of the association between sexual-affective attraction and males with aggressive attitudes and behaviors. Many peers coerce others to have disdainful hookups which have very negative health consequences for the victims, including suicidal ideation and committing suicide. Some peer groups become a risk developmental context for female adolescents as far as they foster the coercive dominant discourse, push some young women to engage in violent sporadic relationships, and even harass some others afterwards. This clarifies the importance of peer group-level interventions when addressing the health consequences of gender violence in adolescence.

Young People’s Voices and Science for Overcoming Toxic Relationships Represented in Sex Education

The scientific literature has presented evidence of how fiction series impact the socialisation of young people’s relationships. However, there is a gap in the evidence on how dialogic interactions overcome the negative impact of the fiction series on the socialisation of toxic relationships. This research analyses dialogic interactions based on scientific evidence related to toxic relationships that contribute to overcoming this type of relationship. First, we developed a communicative content analysis of eight episodes of one of the most-watched fiction series by young people, Sex Education. After that, we conducted four communicative interviews with the young audience to collect their voices about the impact of these toxic relationships represented in this fiction series in their daily conversations. The results indicate that in such cases, there is a need to promote dialogic interactions about this fiction series, focusing the dialogue on which type of masculinity develops a toxic relationship and which, on the contrary, promotes healthy relationships.

Reducing Health Effects on Deceit in Heterosexual Sexual-Affective Relationships: The Impact of the Preventive Socialization Program (PSP)

Background: Health research has provided robust evidence of the negative effects caused by facing deceit in sexual-affective relationships. In this regard, several analyses have been conducted addressing psychological, family therapies, and educational interventions to improve marital problems. On the other hand, many investigations have addressed how the preventive socialization program (PSP), framed on the analysis of a dominant coercive discourse that is connected with the promotion of specific traditional masculine models, impacts on young people’s relationships free of violence. However, the link between deceit, health, and the PSP has not yet been analyzed. To cover this gap, a qualitative study has been performed with a methodology framed on the communicative approach. We enrolled heterosexual women and men aged 25 to 42 years old who have been in contact with the PSP and have experienced or know of any cases of deceit. Two different analytical categories emerged from the analysis, which distinguishes between exclusionary and transformative dimensions. Findings show that the majority of people involved in PSP were able to understand the reasons for deceit as well as to take decisions in their further sexual-affective relationships. Therefore, this study corroborates that access to scientific evidence in the framework of PSP is positively impacting interviewees’ health status.