This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Web of Science (6) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by O’Sullivan, L. F. Articles by Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F. L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

African-American and Latina Inner-City Girls’ Reports of Romantic and Sexual Development

Lfo2{at}Columbia.edu

Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg

Columbia University

Scripts that specify cultural expectations regarding appropriate sexual and romantic conduct become especially salient during adolescence. Fifty-seven African-American and Latina girls (10–13 years) from impoverishedneighborhoods of New York City participated in one of eight semi-structuredgroup interviews to assess girls’ perceptions of the scripts guiding sexual and romantic development. As expected, the social and cultural contexts of early adolescent African-American and Latina girls influence their development of scripts for intimate relationships. Girls learn romantic and sexual standards – including the sequences of intimate progression and the contexts of early sexual exploration – by interacting with samesex peers and by viewing the interactions of others. Girls reported considerable pressure from other girls to engage in sexual activity with boys, yetalso to conform to traditional norms condemning permissive sexuality. Idealized, romanticized views of sexual relationships were more apparent in discussions with Latina adolescents than with African-American adolescents. These findings illustrate how unmonitored mixed-sex encounters are possibly important early social contexts for girls’ sexual development, and how the extensive peer involvement in girls’ early sexual experimentationhas important implications for the development of interventions for minority girls residing in inner-city communities.

Key Words: adolescents • girls • relationships • sexual behavior

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Vol. 20, No. 2, 221-238 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/02654075030202006


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?