Date of Award

4-11-2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

First Advisor

Kara Wettersten

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore experiences and perspectives of rural adolescents regarding quality or healthy relationships. The Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) method was used to analyze the qualitative data. Twelve eighth grade adolescent participants from three rural Midwestern junior high schools participated in the present study. Each participate completed an in-person, semi-structured interview. Specifically, questions were asked regarding participants meanings of healthy and unhealthy relationships, their perceptions of their current relationships with peers, family, and other adults, what they hoped for in future relationships, their ideas about why healthy relationships are important, and how they believe that living in a small community impacts their relationships. In accordance with CQR, the data was analyzed by following three general steps: (a) creating domains for each participant's response, (b) identifying core ideas from the participant's responses, and (c) identifying core ideas from a cross-analysis between participants' responses. This qualitative analysis revealed several meaningful categories pertaining to the rural adolescents' perceptions about healthy relationships. The domains that emerged in this study included: (a) descriptions of good relationships, (b) source of ideas about good relationships, (c) future relationships, (d) impact of community size on relationships, (e) descriptions of personal peer relationships, (f) importance of healthy relationships, (g) characteristics of an individual that affect relationships, (h) descriptions of bad relationships. (i) peer group conflict strategies, and (j) descriptions of personal non-peer relationships. Many categories emerged within these domains and are reported in depth and that led to a rich understanding of rural adolescent experiences and perceptions of healthy relationships. A number of noteworthy findings were discovered that have important implications for future research.

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