Girl powerboy power: Positive sexual health outcomes and the gendered dynamics of power in adolescent heterosexual relationships

Power, how it is defined, embodied and expressed by individuals is central to how those individuals will behave in and perceive their relationships. This dissertation is based on a study focusing on the issues of power and positive sexual health outcomes within adolescent heterosexual relationships from a Population Health perspective that attends to selected social determinants of health. Specifically, this dissertation examines how power is conceptualized, understood and measured in the context of adolescent heterosexual relationships and how power influences the outcomes of these relationships. An explicit concentration is placed on positive outcomes while maintaining a consideration of negative outcomes as key factors in the achievement of sexual health for adolescents. Both qualitative interviews and a quantitative cross-sectional survey were used to explore these issues with a convenience sample of self-defined heterosexual youth between the ages of 14 and 20 who primarily self-identified as Caucasian. Results show that power is overwhelming conceptualized as negative, with some adolescents denying that they have or exercise power. The embodiment of power is perceived to be gendered. 'Powerful girls' are critiqued in a way that 'powerful guys' are not. Young men and women described expressing power in their relationships in generally positive fashions. A minority of young men described expressing power in dominant ways while a minority of young women described using their sexuality as a means of expressing power. The quantitative measurement of relationship power as measured by a modified version of the Sexual Relationship Power scale (Pulerwitz, Gortmaker, & Delong, 2000) revealed lower scores for young men as compared to young women. Regression analyses revealed that for both males and females and experience of physical or verbal violence from a partner in the past year was negatively associated with scores on the SRPS and communication within the most recent relationship was positively associated with scores on the SRPS. High rates of positive sexual health outcomes such as, sexual self-efficacy, satisfaction, sexual assertiveness and communication were seen. Findings, as well as limitations of this study, point to the need for more research on issues of power, equity, gender and positive sexual health outcomes