How do young people construe abusive behaviours within intimate relationships? Using Q methodology to hear young people’s voices

In the UK, there has been a lack of research on abusive behaviours in young people’s intimate relationships (Barter, 2009; Barter et al., 2009; Griffiths, 2019; Lyons & Rabie, 2014; NICE 2014), with few studies based upon young people’s own perceptions (Barter, 2009; Prospero, 2006). This limited evidence-base means that understandings of these relationships and abusive behaviours within them may not represent the experiences of young people. Previous research has also primarily focused on physical and sexual abuse (Barter, 2009; Barter et al., 2009), with emotional abuse only relatively recently receiving an increased focus (Barter, 2009; Barter et al., 2009).

This exploratory study examines the ways in which a UK sample of young people construe abusive behaviours within intimate relationships. Q methodology facilitated the holistic identification of subjective understandings. 26 participants, aged 14-16 years from five mainstream secondary schools in a UK local authority (LA), completed a card sort of statements in a forced choice distribution grid. Both online and in-person Q sorts were utilised. The Q sorts were analysed using factor analysis to identify shared perspectives on abusive behaviours in young peoples’ intimate relationships.

Substantive differences in viewpoints were found between two groups of young people. These related to diverging perceptions of emotionally, physically and sexually abusive behaviours in young people’s intimate relationships, as well as the contextual and consequential features which influence them. A common perspective relating to consent, as well as sexual coercion and abuse, was held across both groups’ viewpoints. Implications for understandings of the dynamics of abuse in young people’s relationships based on young people’s own experiences, as well as for educational provision and Educational Psychologists, are discussed.