| Title: |
What adolescents think of relationship portrayals on social media: a qualitative study |
| Authors: |
Taba, Melody; Lewis, Larissa; Cooper, Spring Chenoa; Albury, Kath; Chung, Kon Shing Kenneth; Lim, Megan; Bateson, Deborah; Kang, Melissa; Skinner, S. Rachel |
| Source: |
Sexual Health |
| Publisher Information: |
CSIRO Publishing; Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health; Faculty of Medicine and Health; Faculty of Engineering |
| Publication Year: |
2020 |
| Collection: |
The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Repository |
| Subject Terms: |
adolescent; social media; romantic relationships; qualitative; 11 Medical and Health Sciences; 1117 Public Health and Health Services |
| Description: |
Background: Understanding the factors influencing adolescents’ relationship views is important because early romantic relationships often act as precursors for relationships in adulthood. This study sought to examine the types of relationship-focused content adolescents witness on social media and how they perceive its effect on their romantic relationship beliefs. Methods: Sixteen semistructured interviews were conducted with Australian adolescents aged 16–19 years who were purposively sampled from a larger longitudinal study. Interview transcripts were analysed qualitatively using constructivist grounded theory. Results: Participants described the types of romantic relationship portrayals they saw on social media, including relationship-focused trends like ‘Relationship Goals’ and ‘Insta-Couples’. Participants explained their ability to identify incomplete and unrealistic relationship portrayals, as well as the pressure to share their relationships online in the same incomplete fashion. Views regarding the influence of social media were varied, but most believed social media relationship portrayals had some level of influence on young people’s relationship views; some participants believed this occurred regardless of awareness of the incompleteness of the online portrayal. Conclusions: Although participant interview data revealed the pervasiveness of social media relationship portrayals, it also revealed the sophisticated capabilities of adolescents in critiquing online media portrayals. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP150104066; https://hdl.handle.net/2123/24090 |
| DOI: |
10.1071/SH20056 |
| Availability: |
https://hdl.handle.net/2123/24090; https://doi.org/10.1071/SH20056 |
| Rights: |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.C32537C3 |
| Database: |
BASE |