The Meaning of the Break-Up in Dating Relationships of Mexican Adolescents

Although the break-up of dating relationships in adolescence is something expected, this can viewed as a personal failure for adolescents (Perinat & Corral, 2003), and several consequences have been associated to this phenomenon. However, is not enough literature around the psychological meaning of this concept have been proposed (Brown, Feiring, & Furman, 1999), especially on Mexican adolescents.
The aim of this study was to identify the psychological meaning of the “break-up” in Mexican adolescents. For this reason, 170 adolescents participated, (69 men, 101 women), who had experienced a break-up in their lives. All participants were residents of Mexico City.
Findings of Modified Natural Semantic Networks (Reyes-Lagunes, 1993) indicated that the symbolic representations of break-up in dating relationship is associated with sadness, pain, ugliness, anger, and distrust.
In conclusion, the psychological meaning of break-up of dating relationships stands for cognitions and feelings that are involved in the subjective culture (Szalay & Maday, 1973). Thus, this phenomenon is viewed as a common, highly emotional, and negative experience (Perilloux & Buss, 2008; Sprecher, 1994). Also, findings are discussed in the light of ethno-psychological literature. Finally, this study allows the development of research and measurement scales that identify the cultural factors associated with this phenomenon. Thus, negative meaning of the break-up of dating relationships can be changed in the life of the Mexican adolescents.