“He Was Such a Block of Ice.” Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Adolescent Girls’ Work in an Intimate Relationship

Kamila Kacprzak-Wachniew; Justyna Spychalska-Stasiak

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.20.3.01

Authors

Kamila Kacprzak-Wachniew Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3668-1720
Justyna Spychalska-Stasiak Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7870-7469

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.20.3.01

Keywords:

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Adolescent, Romantic Relationships, Gender

Abstract

The first romantic relationships of adolescents are of significant developmental importance, and the acquired experience is a cultural issue. The study aimed to capture what meanings young teenagers give their first love experiences. In-depth interviews were conducted with six teenage girls. A detailed idiographic analysis, based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), allowed us to present the work of adolescents to maintain intimacy and ensure the stability of a romantic relationship. It was noticed that young girls take an emotionally leading role in their romantic relationships, feel responsible for them, and act following the stereotypical gender order. The interpretative framework adolescents adopt may result from therapeutic and utilitarian narratives, addressed mainly to women.

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Author Biographies

Kamila Kacprzak-Wachniew, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland

Kamila Kacprzak-Wachniew is employed at the Faculty of Biology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. She holds a Ph.D. in pedagogy from Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz. Her dissertation explored how young people make sense of their experiences of being in romantic relationships. She used the approach—Interpretative Phenomenology Analysis (IPA)—which she studied at Birkbeck University of London as a scholarship holder of the National Science Center competition. Her research interests include the role of technology in people’s lives, especially in establishing emotional relationships.

Justyna Spychalska-Stasiak, Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland

Justyna Spychalska-Stasiak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Research Methodology and Discourse Studies at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Her scientific interests focus on gender inequalities, higher education, and the academic manufacturing of knowledge. She is the beneficiary of a promoter grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for the realization of her doctoral dissertation. She is also a participant in two scientific projects: Governmentality of University—A Discursive Image of the Contemporary Reform of Higher Education in Poland (conducted by Helena Ostrowicka) and The Phenomenon of Life-Streaming as a Way to Seek and Constructing the Identity of Young People. Identity Statuses and Identity Styles of Young People and Their Excessive Use of Social Networks (conducted by Jolanta Jarczyńska). She is the co-author of two scientific monographs and a dozen or so articles.

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