Advice from teens to teens about dating: Implications for healthy relationships

Seventy-five Mexican American and White male and female adolescents were asked in focus groups to offer advice to other adolescents pertaining to dating relationships. Across ethnicities and sexes, “Stay on your feet” was the most prominent advice given, followed by advice to “Know when it's right”. “Have good reasoning…especially about that was a prominent theme among females; Mexican American females focused more on pressure associated with sexual activity while White females embedded their advice more often within futuristic and long-term relationship goals. Females offered roughly three times more relationship advice than did males and dialogued collaboratively at greater length, enriching their advice with personal and emotional experiences. Findings are interpreted within a developmental and feminist perspective and in line with recent recommendations for sexual and dating education as outlined by Romeo and Kelley (2009).

Research Highlights
► Advice pertained largely to socio-emotional components of romantic relationships.
► The most prominent advice was to maintain emotional stability.
► Other prominent advice was to choose wisely when and whom to date.
► Latinas frequently framed relationship advice in the context of sexual pressure.
► White females’ advice often alluded to futuristic romantic ideals.