390P
“It's Not My Business!”: Dating Abuse and Bystander Behavior in Young Adult Novels
Teen dating violence (TDV) among adolescents continues to be a pressing social issue. Youth bystander models, which seek to engage the entire community in challenging social norms that contribute to the perpetuation of TDV, have been introduced as promising strategies to prevent TDV. However, there has been limited attention to the relationship between environmental context and bystander intervention. Concurrently, the genre of realistic young adult (YA) literature has exploded. The plots of these novels often focus on topics germane to adolescent health including TDV. Building on Cultivation and Social Learning theories that emphasize the sensitizing role of youth’s social environments (including the media) play in influencing youth’s behaviors and attitudes, this presentation will present results from a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of young adult novels with TDV as a central theme. We sought to identify the dominant societal attitudes about preventing dating abuse and youth’s capacity to act as positive bystanders in response to TDV within these novels. This research is particularly innovative, because there has been limited academic inquiry about the role societal norms and attitudes vis-à-vis the media play in influencing youth’s active participation in response to TDV.
Methods
Data and Sample: The data will include all young adult novels (n=9) published between 2004-2013 that had a primary focus on TDV. All books had to be in circulation at one of the five largest public library systems in the United States.
Analysis: The CDA occurred in three steps. First, we read and screened all novels for meeting the inclusion requirements. The second reading involved inductive coding on concepts, categories and emerging themes. The third step involved employing “structured questions” to unpack the discursive processes within. For example, we asked, “what social norms about dating violence are being privileged or predominately depicted?”
Results
The results could be captured in following thematic domains: 1.) TDV is a private issue and no one else’s “business;” 2.) TDV is the result of the perpetrators or victims personal deficits; 3.) Teens are disempowered and have no agency to intervene in TDV. For example, victims of abuse were portrayed as being vulnerable to abuse because of an absent parent or low self worth. Explanatory reasons cited for TDV perpetration focused on family history of violence or mental health issues, while rarely discussing other antecedents of TDV. There were no effective examples of bystander behaviors portrayed.
Discussion & Implications
The YA novels reinforced dominant negative social norms about TDV and teens’ capacities to act as positive bystanders. These social discourses run counter to the proactive messages in bystander programs about “speaking up” and potentially reinforce social scripts about dating relationships. This research is a critical platform for investigating how youth-friendly social mediums can be harnessed as tools to counteract dominant social norms about the capacity of youth to be active participants in the prevention of TDV.