# Mapping the contours of teen dating violence: An ecologically-informed grounded theory approach to understanding romantic relationship development among Black girls

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA · 2022 · $242,250

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Teen dating violence (TDV) victimization is associated with depression, disordered eating,
acquiring sexually transmitted infections, as well as experiencing unplanned pregnancy,
substance use, suicidal ideation, injury, and death. Despite a higher likelihood of exposure to TDV
for young Black women, few studies have addressed healthy and normative romantic relationship
development among Black adolescent girls as a way to address TDV and reduce unhealthy
relationship dynamics. Yet, to understand healthy romantic relationship formation, it is necessary
to consider the interplay between Black girls’ lived experiences and structural factors that may
undermine the quality of their relationships, such as negative racialized and gendered stereotypes.
In addition, cultural assets, the individual and collective resources that enable ethnocultural
groups to maintain positive identity beliefs and health outcomes over time, may offer important
insight regarding the development of Black adolescent girls’ healthy relationships. The current
proposal will use semi-structured interviews with young Black women aged 15-21 to understand
what occurs during their romantic relationships; how the relationships are initiated, external and
structural influences, internal and external assets of the individual girl, milestones during
relationships, how and why the relationships end. Codes and themes derived from the analysis of
data will be used to develop new theory of how romantic relationships develop for Black girls
during adolescence. Specifically, journey maps (aim 1) will describe the trajectory of these
relationships from initiation to disillusion. Situational analysis (aim 2) will identify the numerous
human, nonhuman, sociocultural, and structural influences on these relationships. Finally,
counternarrative analysis (aim 3) will bring to the light the important resilience markers for this
vulnerable group to inform and improve TDV prevention programming. Taken together, this data
driven analysis will create an overarching “theoretical story” of the external and structural
influences on romantic relationships for Black girls as well as the cultural assets they garner to
sustain or end their relationships. Most importantly, this research will serve as a foundation for
the development of our team’s planned R01 submission to develop and test an intervention to
reduce TDV among Black youth.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10575060
- **Project number:** 1R21MD018110-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
- **Principal Investigator:** KATRINA J DEBNAM
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $242,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-27 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10575060

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10575060, Mapping the contours of teen dating violence: An ecologically-informed grounded theory approach to understanding romantic relationship development among Black girls (1R21MD018110-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10575060. Licensed CC0.

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