The Love Untold: A Phenomenological Investigation on Teenage Dating Relationships

THE LOVE UNTOLD: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION ON

TEENAGE DATING RELATIONSHIPS

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for Research II Subject

ALMOITE, Renz Dominic O.

ALCANTARA, Marwen Joy L.

ALEJANDRINO, Carl

AUXTERO, Richel M.

LOZANO, Elrhis John

December 2016

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

        Romantic relationships are a major developmental milestone wherein it marks as a significant marking to a change or a stage for development. They usually accompany all other changes a young adult go through in physical, social, and emotional aspects, and also linked to a growing interest in body image, independence, and privacy (Toga, Thompson, & Sowell, 2006).

        Love, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, is an intense feeling of affection to someone. But do we know the true definition of love? Love is indefinable which is why the main objective of this study is to explore and create a concrete example of the phenomenon of what we call love. Love is an abstract thought that differs from different individuals (Joel, 2012).

        Many teenagers spend a lot of time thinking and talking about being in a relationship. During these periods, teenage relationships usually last only for a few weeks or months. Sometimes, some teens do not develop an interest in romantic relationships and focus only on schoolwork, sports, and other interests (Adams, 2001).

        If a teenager partakes in a romantic relationship, it can bring up questions about sex and intimacy. Not all teenage relationships should include sex, but most teenagers will experiment with sexual behavior at some stage. This is a good reason why teenagers nowadays are informed clearly on contraception, safe sex, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In a survey led by the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), one in ten young Filipino women age 15-19 has begun childbearing wherein 8 percent are already mothers and another 2 percent are pregnant with their first child.

        Teenagers in the society are considered as young individuals that still needs further supervision from their parents. While they think they know what’s best, a parent can see emotional destruction long before a teen can feels it. This immaturity, both experience and emotion, can cause teens to think they are in love or infatuated. This may cause further low self-esteem, devastation, and depression as soon as the relationship ends. In fact, there are many cases of suicide due to depression which follows a breakup in some teens (Barthassat, 2014).

        There is a major impact a teenage relationship can pose on a teenager. Education is largely affected on this case. A teen relationship can wreak havoc on a teenager’s academic performance due to the lack of focus on things that should be of more priority such as education. It is highly emphasized that teens should understand that education should always come first (Rector & Johnson, 2005).

        Other factors can largely cause a teen to feel pressured to enter the bandwagon of teenage relationship. One of the examples of this is social status. It is a trend nowadays that being part of a couple can alter a teen’s social status at school. Social status could mean almost everything to a teenager, so self-confidence is boosted artificially if he/she engages in a dating relationship. This could put self-pity and reduced self esteem to some individuals if they are not capable of getting their own dates at school (Ireland, 2015).

        Past studies mentioned only on the advantages and disadvantages of teenage relationships and how to guide your children when it comes to partaking into teenage relationships, and how do they influence individuals. However, we, the researchers have not come across any study that looked into the social meanings of teenage relationships and how do they affect a certain individual’s mindsets and goals and how do they manage to cope up with their other priorities and maintaining their own relationships and how they feel with each other. We, the researchers, are interested how these groups of teenagers handle this kind of relationships and what makes it relevant to them (Cole, 2008).

Purpose of the Study

        The purpose of this phenomenological study was to capture the socially elaborated knowledge of the teenagers partaking in teenage relationships particularly junior high students in UM Tagum. It also aimed to find out the processes through which these shared knowledge were created.

        At this stage in the research, teenage relationship during high school is a social issue and a phenomenon that exists in the field of adolescent development. Teenagers who partake in this type of relationships oftentimes puts them into risks that lead them to becoming unproductive individuals in such times when they end up getting pregnant and becoming teen mothers and fathers.

This phenomenological study would add to the growing body of knowledge about the usefulness of the theory of Social Representation in investigating social issues such as of what are the things that we need to consider in partaking in such type of relationship. Through this study, I would be able to acquire salient information that would help us understand how human beings create meanings about a social phenomenon such as handling and partaking in such type of relationship. It also aims to capture the unheard voices of teenagers who are experiencing and partaking into this type of relationships; and how these teenagers cope with the common problems they encountered in handling and maintaining the said type of relationship which is the teenage relationship. It also seeks future directions for parents how to guide and counsel their children with regards to this kind of topic and the risks or hardships they might encounter.

        This study also visualizes documenting the different experiences of the fourteen teenagers in in-depth interviews and seven teenagers in the focus group discussions both the positive and negative one from their own experiences, from the UM Tagum. Moreover, the intent of this study is to seek, listen, and understand the unheard stories of the participants as they willingly share their experiences during the interview. In addition, this study aims to gain additional knowledge in the field of research concerning teenagers handling and maintaining relationships in UM Tagum.