Resources that help adolescent girls recover from an experience of gender-related dating violence

This paper tries to discover the resources that help adolescent girls overcome an abusive dating relationship and their role in the recovery process. To this end, 13 adolescent girls narrate their experience through autobiographical interviews, which are examined using interpretive analysis based on grounded theory. The results show that family (mothers, grandmothers and sisters) and friends are key support points for their emotional recovery during the whole process. Programs that offer psychological care for teenage survivors of abusive partnerships are also positively valued, because they offer victims the chance of meeting other girls in similar situations and listening to their experience while giving them a chance to tell of their own. Legal complaints are also an essential resource that allow survivors to distance themselves from their abusers, as are actions taken by the police that encourage teens to report episodes of gender violence. Hobbies (dance, theater, sports, etc.) are a key personal resource to regain self-esteem and to reestablish friendships. Gender training allows them to assert and protect themselves. We also discuss the implications of awareness and prevention in these processes.