Plain english summary
Background
Health-risking behaviors in adolescent girls
Partner influences on drug use and sexual behavior
This study
Methods
Participants
Measures
Interview guide
Demographic survey
Analysis
Results
Partner choice
Subtheme |
n
| Sample Quote |
---|---|---|
Partner is rebellious | 6 | “I always looked for the bad boys…the ones that were doing the exact same thing I was…going out and smoking weed and at times, you know when I would drink or when I used to use meth.” |
Emotional and financial support | 5 | “I think that girls want to find a man who can support them and who can um who has a job and who has a good head on their shoulders.” |
Wants a boyfriend | 5 | “Usually girls just want a boyfriend just to have a boyfriend. You know, just for cuz I mean to have someone through high school is awesome…” |
Partner is older or experienced | 3 | “The way that they got to do whatever they wanted. I think, like it seemed like they were a lot more free to do as they pleased. And that was somehow attractive.” |
Positive partner characteristics | 14 | “Somebody who’s, like, popular, and good looking, and has a lotta friends.” |
Partner is rebellious
Partner emotional and financial support
Wants a boyfriend
Partner is older/experienced
Positive partner characteristics
Partner influence
Subtheme |
n
| Sample Quote |
---|---|---|
Theme: Partner Influence on Drug Use | ||
Fitting in | 5 | “Like say if I was with someone that was using drugs um, and if they used them around me I would want to feel cool or whatever. Um, and just kind of like fit in with his crowd.” |
Pressure | 9 | “…they make it seem cool or make it seem right, make it to where that’s what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s pressuring.” |
A common experience | 6 | “…my sister had done it here and there, you know, she’d once in a while but she never really did it all the time. And she started dating her, and uh, whenever she uses something, it doesn’t matter if it’s pot, alcohol, what she has to use it when she uses it cuz they say that, she says she don’t want her to be high and her not cuz then they might not communicate the same way.” |
Improve or maintain the relationship | 4 | “I didn’t want them to break up with me. You know I, I oh well if I do this with him, he won’t break up with me.” |
Proximity or access | 5 | “Because they’re around each other and they wanna do what each other are doing.” |
Theme: Talking About Safe Sex | ||
Awkward or uncomfortable | 10 | “It’s not gonna be like some made out scene like how they say in Sex Ed, because really, in all reality, it’s not. You don’t think, hey we’re gonna have sex in two hours let’s talk about this for an hour and then cuddle for 15 min and then you know, do all this other stuff for you know another 45, and then we could have sex.” |
Nervous, scared, or unsure | 3 | “Neither partner is really actually has developed a close relationship with each other and they’re not actually comfortable enough with each other to talk about things that could be awkward or embarrassing and serious.” |
Theme: Practicing Safe Sex | ||
Not thinking about consequences | 10 | “…they don’t have a condom but they wanna do it now, so they just do it…” |
Don’t like condoms/birth control | 7 | “Because it feels better [without a condom]. Or they just don’t wanna wear that. Or they’re allergic… The way that it hurts their area or whatever” |
Alcohol or drugs | 6 | I didn’t really take the time to get to know any of em. So it was like extremely uncomfortable. I was always on drugs. You know or alcohol or something. So I didn’t, I really never connected to em. So it made it extremely awkward to talk to anybody. |
Partner is dishonest | 3 | “…and then after we slept together my aunt found out and told me that he had herpes and I didn’t even know because he didn’t tell me. And I got really upset…” |
Male pressures female | 4 | “I was raped one time. Well, a couple of times, but this one stands out the most because I was young. It was with a boyfriend and I had told him no and he forced it on me anyway and he was a lot stronger than I was. And there was no fighting him off.” |
Unrealistic expectations | 5 | “Just because he says he cares about you before doesn’t mean that he still will afterwards. I’ve seen that way too many times…He’ll just leave or that’s all you will do afterwards, when you refuse to, he breaks it off with you. That happened to a very good friend of mine.” |
Putting on a condom is awkward | 1 | “I think sex in itself is a pretty awkward when you’re doing it with somebody you don’t really know, and so to have to put on a condom or to put in a female condom or to do something like that in the middle of sex its already awkward just makes it 10 times more awkward. And then you kinda just don’t want to do it anymore. Or it’s just like you’re embarrassed.” |
Partner influence on drug use
Another participant talked about how a partners’ pressure to use drugs can be related to the cost of drugs and hope for help in paying for them: “I know a first-hand story I just got yesterday of someone who started heroin for the first time and she was with her boyfriend and she had a job and he didn’t. And so what he did is he filled up a syringe of heroin and stuck it in her thigh. And then she’s like, ‘You know why? Because I had a job and he didn’t and now I’m addicted and so now I can buy his shit too.’”I originally started using meth because my boyfriend at the time used to use it and he loved it and my excuse for not wanting to use it was I didn’t wanna go find it. I didn’t know where it was, I didn’t have the money for it. But, at the same time he knew I wanted to use it because it would get me skinny. And I’ve always have had an unhappy weight and it’s always been a weakness of mine and he knew that and so he took advantage of it and he went and got meth. Went and got everything we needed and then brought it to me and so at that point it was really hard for me to say no.
My sister had done it [used drugs] here and there, you know. She’d [used drugs] once in a while but she never really did it all the time. And she started dating her [partner], and uh, whenever she uses something, it doesn’t matter if it’s pot, alcohol, what she has to use it when she uses it cuz they say that, she says she don’t want her [partner] to be high and her [the sister] not, cuz then they might not communicate the same way. They’re very, very codependent on each other…
There was a couple times that, like, the guy that I was doing heroin with, that got me into it, there was times that when we were high together he would…spill out everything, all of his feelings to me. That he was really in love with me and that kinda stuff. And then once he got sober he was the complete opposite. And like, he didn’t wanna look at me, he didn’t wanna sit in the same room as me. There’s a lot of swishy-washy when you do drugs and are trying to have a relationship. And there’s a lot of co-dependent on each other.
She [the partner] was using and I was using with her, and I told her, “You know, I don’t want to do this all the time. I don’t care if I do it, you know, maybe one night a year or something, but I don’t wanna do it all the time because…” I showed her a picture. I said, “This is me at fourteen. I look thirty.” Cuz I was on meth. And it just was horrible. Sunken face, messed up teeth, and I was like, “I don’t wanna look like that ever again. And I don’t wanna lose my mind. And I have permanent heart and lung damage from using and I just, who know.” You know? And I told her, “It’s either my heart or a bag of dope,” and she chose meth. So I left her…
Talking about safe sex
Respondent: I’d say the majority of them talk to their home girls and their best friends.Interviewer: Okay, so they talk to friends, but do they talk to their partners?Respondent: Not as probably much as it should be talked about I guess. Unless they’re like, in a serious committed relationship. Then you’re gonna talk to them [the partner]. But if you’ve only been dating this guy, for like, let’s say two or three weeks, or even a month or two, you’re not gonna be like, “Hey dude, I wanna boil this down and we can talk about, you know, well, I don’t wanna get chlamydia and I don’t know if you’ve ever seen but it really is, really bad you know? And I wanna baby someday and I just hope that we could use a condom right now and every time that we have sex and I would really…” No dude! They [adolescent girls] ain’t gonna do that. It’s gonna be like, you know, “Hey, lets fuck, no I’m okay [don’t have an STI], c’mon.” You know? And then they’d [the adolescent girl] be like, “Oh, okay, let’s get this condom.” “No I’m not using that.” “Well you know I feel better if we could use condoms cuz I don’t wanna get pregnant.” “Well then get on birth control.” You know? It’s gonna be, you know, short little. It’s not gonna be like some made out scene like how they say in Sex Ed, because really, in all reality, it’s not. You don’t think, hey we’re gonna have sex in two hours let’s talk about this for an hour and then cuddle for 15 minutes and then you know, do all this other stuff for you know another 45, and then we could have sex.
They [adolescent girls] are gonna get nervous [to talk to their partners about safe sex], yeah. But in all reality they have to be reminded that they’re gonna be the ones who be miserable [if they don’t talk about safe sex]. Yeah, it’s gonna be cool, but in all reality if you’re sitting there taking care of one kid, and this guy’s having sex with your best friend, and you just got pregnant by him and you don’t know what to do, and you don’t want an abortion. You’re gonna be sitting there crying because you’re gonna have to take care of a baby in 9 months. And then your whole life is gonna be ruined. And then you can’t go to college, you know? It just boils everything all crazy like.
Practicing safe sex
When asked why she thought male partners pressured adolescent girls not to use condoms during sex, the respondent said, “Cuz they’re stupid. Cuz it feels better to have sex without a condom.” Another participant related how she thinks men’s attitudes toward women and impulsivity about sex are linked to men not thinking about the consequences of unsafe sexual behavior, saying, “And all they [her male friends] talk about is, ‘I’m gonna fuck this bitch and I wanna fuck that bitch.’ And, you know, ‘That girl’s so hot.’” When she hears this kind of talk, she said that she often tells her male friends what she thinks about the consequences of their actions:I carried ‘em [condoms] because I never knew. And I wanted to make sure if I get in a situation I have something, because, you know, my mom always told me when I was younger, “You know men don’t care. They’re gonna just do it. If they want to get their dick wet, they’re gonna do it, so you better carry one just in case and tell him he’s puttin’ it on or you ain’t doin’ it.”
I tell them straight up… “You know, you think it’s cool, really. But in all reality, do you wanna tell your mom, ‘Hey I got this girl pregnant. Now I have to pay child support’? Because I’m [the male] 15 years old and she’s 14, or vice versa? Dude! You’re fuckin’ 18 or 17 and this girl’s fuckin’ 13? You’re going to fuckin’ jail when you’re 18, you know? You’re going to prison and you’re gonna have to be a sex offender for the rest of your life.”
Respondent: Guys refusing to wear protection…or not wanting their girlfriends to be on birth control.Interviewer: Okay. And do you hear of that happening a lot?Respondent: I’ve heard of it, yes.Interviewer: Okay. And do you know maybe some reasons that guys don’t want their girlfriends to wear condoms or use birth control?Respondent: For the condoms because it feels better without [said sarcastically]. I used quotations; sorry, you didn’t see my hands [laughs]. And the birth control, like hormones and stuff like that, because a lot of the times it can make your hormones go crazy.Interviewer: Okay. So are the boys concerned about the girl’s hormones? Or?Respondent: [Nods head yes.] Sometimes. I’ve heard guys say that…I heard my friend’s ex-boyfriend say that to her…because it made her crazy. [Said sarcastically]
I don’t think that the individuals who do have the STD are being honest because I’ve had that incident where I had a family friend who was really, really close to my aunt and he ended up wanting to sleep with me. And I slept with him. And then after we slept together, my aunt found out and told me that he had herpes and I didn’t even know because he didn’t tell me. I got upset that he didn’t tell me and then I found out.
But he seemed really sweet at first. Really kind, really understanding. Everything I looked for. But only being with him for two months, I found out that it was just a façade. He put on a mask pretty much just to snag me, I guess…Basically he was just a really conniving, deceitful person who was trying to get me in bed with him. And being so young, like, I trusted him. I believed everything he said. There was no precaution, there was no taking any caution at all with him. It was just go, go, go pretty much.