“It's an Outlet from Here”: A Mixed Qualitative Approach to Understanding the Role of Technology in the Dating Lives of Youth in Residential Foster Care

Background and Purpose:Technology may influence adolescents’ romantic relationship experiences in both adaptive and maladaptive ways. Research shows that adolescent girls with a history of maltreatment are more likely to engage in high-risk internet behaviors, including meeting unknown men offline. Youth in residential foster care settings may also experience a number of challenges forming healthy dating relationships given they are supervised by direct care staff and clinicians in a controlled environment. There is a need for research to understand how service providers engage with youth in their care regarding sexual behavior and relationship development. This study utilized a mixed qualitative methods approach to understand how technology impacts the dating experiences of pregnant and parenting adolescents in residential foster care from the perspectives of program staff and youth.

Methods: As part of a community based participatory research project, we interviewed program staff (N=14 females, diverse in ethnicity) serving pregnant and parenting adolescent girls living in residential foster care in a large Southern state. We sought a purposive sample that represented multiple and various roles at the home (e.g., clinicians, parent educators).  Following interviews, focus groups were conducted with a diverse sample of adolescents divided by age into two groups (14-16; 17-22; five youth per group).  Staff and youth were asked a series of key questions pertaining to dating and sexual relationship health. Data pertaining to the role of technology were analyzed using Morse’s (2009) QUAL+qual design, meaning that interviews formed the core analytic component and a flexible template for the analysis of focus group data. This mixed method design is particularly advantageous when two types of data offer a more complete understanding than when either source is used in isolation. A member checking focus group with staff confirmed key findings and guided implications for practice.

Results: Inductive content analysis of staff interviews uncovered three primary themes and eight subthemes. Two of the primary themes and corresponding six subthemes were supported in focus group dialogue with youth. Specifically, dialogue converged to express that 1.) Technology is a central component of adolescents’ dating interactions with current and former partners, including the child’s father; and 2.) Staff experienced generational differences in the dating practices of the youth they served as a result of technology.  Additionally, 3.) Staff (but not youth) discussed certain risks involved in using technology for dating and sexual relationships. Subthemes included staff’s voiced concerns about youth meeting unknown partners online, taking these relationships offline, and subsequently putting their children at risk.

Conclusions and Implications: A mixed methodological design allowed for an assessment of how technology and dating practices develop among a vulnerable youth group. Healthy relationship programs tailored for pregnant and parenting teens in foster care are needed, and should involve discussion of technology that speaks to adolescents’ lived experiences with online solicitation, publicized interactions, and challenges navigating diverse relationship contexts. Findings are being used to strengthen clinical relationships with youth having experienced trauma and to integrate media literacy information into a healthy relationship curriculum currently being utilized.