At the end of a fairy tale: romantic relationships in female juvenile offenders

Abstract

This study explores romantic relationships among female juvenile offenders. The entire female population of a juvenile detention center at the moment of the study participated in a semi-structured interview. Using a semi-structured interview, the girls answered questions on four main topics: (a) available dating partners before entering the detention center; (b) dating partner preferences; (c) intimate relationships within the center; and (d) romantic relationships. A 34-item scale was also used to assess their dating partner preferences. Most girls depicted dysfunctional families and a reduced range of dating options, many involving male offenders. Most participants had also been precocious in their relationships and experienced victimization at the hands of their intimate partners. Implications to prevent female involvement with criminal and violent men are discussed.

Keywords:

• female juvenile offenders
• romantic relationships
• teen dating violence
• adolescents
• assortative partnering

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad (Spain) and European Social Fund under [grant number 53/12].

Our thanks are due to Fundación Canaria de Juventud Ideo for sharing our interest in the needs of young female offenders and for facilitating data collection.

Notes

1. Data on the initial poll of items are available from the first author upon request.