Intimate partner violence in adolescence: an analysis of gender and generation.

Bianca De Cássia Alvarez Brancaglioni,Rosa Maria Godoy Serpa Da Fonseca

doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2016-0408

Bianca De Cássia Alvarez Brancaglioni, Rosa Maria Godoy Serpa Da Fonseca

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2016-0408

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Abstract

to analyze the intimate partner violence in adolescence from the perspective of gender and generation. Quantitative, descriptive, and exploratory research. 111 adolescents participated in this study, with ages from 15 to 19 years old. We found that 91% of participants have perpetrated and 90.1% have undergone at least one of the natures of violence. The intimate partner violence in adolescence constitutes a form of gender violence, and gender constructions have determined the suffered and perpetrated aggressions, possibly also determining the naturalization and legitimization of such aggressions. The inequality of power between generations may determine greater vulnerability of youngsters to the phenomenon. The historical and social construction of masculinity and femininity and the power inequalities set by these constructions converge with the power inequality between generations. Thus, gender and generation are determinants of intimate partner violence in adolescence, as well as of the vulnerability of adolescents to this phenomenon.

Highlights

Intimate partner violence is defined by the World Health Organization as a “behavior by an intimate partner that causes physical, sexual, or psychological damage, including acts of physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse, and controlling behavior”(1)
Most participants did not work and attended the Technical or Higher Education, indicating that the family owned financial conditions that enabled the maintenance of the students at school. These results indicate that intimate partner violence in adolescence is not a phenomenon restricted to groups with greater social vulnerability, but that pervades social classes, as pointed out by Minayo, Assis, and Njaine(2)
When analyzing the intimate relationships, they found that most adolescents reproduced the hegemonic social constructions of sexual orientation and gender

Summary

Introduction

We chose to use the term intimate partner violence in adolescence, since it covers informal partnerships such as dating and casual relationships. The latter is a kind of intimate relationship characterized as attraction phase without further commitment between the partners, and can involve from kissing to sexual intercourse. It can take on characteristics similar to dating, which is an intimate relationship characterized by the commitment between the partners(2). The articulation between gender and intimate partner violence in adolescence is a little discussed topic both nationally and internationally(3)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion