“It’s a Feeling That Makes You do Anything”: Youth’ Narratives of Love and Experiences of Victimization in Their Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Youth narratives of love are shaped by romantic experiences through observation of others’ romantic relationships, and by media commonly conveying romantic beliefs. Since past reports have linked romantic beliefs to dating violence (DV), studies need to explore narratives of love by youth who report DV victimization experiences to identify specific targets to address in DV prevention programs. This qualitative study explored the narratives of love by heterosexual youth and documented specific features according to their DV victimization experiences. Directed content analysis guided the analyses of semi-structured interviews of 82 participants aged 15 to 24 years (M = 19.4; SD = 2.1). Most participants were cisgender females (75.6%) born in Canada to Canadian-born parents (54.6%). Four polarized narratives of love emerged: (1) Growing love versus love at first sight, (2) Completive versus fusional love, (3) Lucid versus triumphant love, and (4) Ongoing versus eternal love. Both participants who reported experiencing DV victimization, and those who did not, expressed non-romantic and romantic beliefs, although they used different wording to convey similar beliefs in their narratives. These findings underscore the importance of challenging the dominant romantic beliefs that may place youth at risk of experiencing DV and therefore contribute to DV prevention.