Digital Social Networks: Exposure to Violence in Intimity Among Adolescents in the Light of Complexity

Abstract

Objective: this study aims to learn the perception of adolescents, who are immersed in the digital age, about intimate partner violence, from the perspective of the Paradigm of Complexity. Method: a qualitative and strategic social research; 39 adolescents, males and females, attending high school in two state schools in a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, participated in the study. Data was collected through interviews and focus groups between October 2016 and April 2017 and analyzed in the light of the referred Paradigm. Results: the results showed the following: acceptance of violence in intimate relationships among adolescents; persistence of taboos, myths and beliefs in society that were reproduced in the participants’ reports; new forms of violence, relationships and notions engendered and updated by the digital age; prevalence of psychological violence among adolescents. Conclusion: the study shows the association between love and violence out of jealousy and the control and power over the partner’s social networks as a legitimate form of love in the daily life of intimate relationships, which are expressed in different ways. Failure to accept certain conditions is perceived as a form of cheating. The Paradigm of Complexity contributed in an indispensable way by offering an integral look on the theme and by providing greater clarity about the elements that make up the phenomenon in an articulated and contextualized way.

amor en América Latina: Entre el amor romántico y el cuidado

“…Licencia Pública Internacional -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 que hablen de relaciones no monógamas. Las investigaciones analizan las representaciones de adolescentes en grupos de enfoque o sus comportamientos en línea (Campeiz et al, 2020) y encuentran que hay violencia en las relaciones de pareja y en las nociones de cómo deben ser éstas. Las y los adolescentes asumen que los celos son parte de la relación y que se requiere ejercer control sobre la pareja (actividades, amigos, relaciones).…”