Relationship Smarts PLUS 5.0 SRA 4 of 455

Previous Page Next Page

(c)  2025 The Dibble Institute. All Rights reserved.

Page 1Relationship Smarts PLUS 5.0 Instructor’s Manual click to expand contents
Page 351Activity Cards
Page 400Relationship Smarts PLUS 5.0 Journal click to expand contents
- Page 400Relationship Smarts PLUS 5.0 Journal
- Page 404Table of Contents

Extracted Text (may have errors)

Help

iii
Copyright 2023 Marline E. Pearson
Introduction
Relationship Smarts PLUS SRA is a lively, 13-lesson, evidence-based relationship skills curriculum
for young teens. This curriculum embodies an innovative approach that addresses positive
youth development, life skills, healthy relationships, dating violence, and STI/HIV and pregnancy
prevention. These goals, typically addressed in separate programs, are integrated and embedded into
one comprehensive healthy relationship skills program.
Relationship Smarts PLUS builds assets and strengthens protective factors. It appeals to teenagers’
aspirations rather than merely emphasizing what they must avoid. It empowers youth with skills needed
to form and maintain healthy relationships, make wise sexual choices, and work toward their goals.
All youth, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, have attractions, emotions, and desires
for respectful, healthy relationships. All youth benefit from sexual risk avoidance. All youth need
skills and knowledge to navigate their relationships and make wise sexual decisions. This is an
inclusive curriculum. Sexual and gender minority youth is increasingly becoming the common term.
But because it has not yet become widely adopted by youth themselves, we will be using the more
commonly recognized term LGBTQ+.
Building Models and Confidence for Healthy Relationships
Many young people today lack models of healthy relationships. A Child Trends survey of
disadvantaged youth reported that while respondents could list general qualities for healthy
relationships, and certainly aspired to have them, when asked if they actually saw many around them,
the answer was “no.”1 Sadly, they said they had little confidence they would be able to achieve a
healthy relationship despite their aspirations to develop one.
Relationship Smarts PLUS aims to build confidence and skills. It offers guidance on navigating the
world of romantic relationships. Teens learn that healthy relationships begin with the individual—
identifying personal strengths and weaknesses, understanding how one’s past influences the present,
and the importance of attending to one’s own growth and development.
Relationship Smarts PLUS offers knowledge of what a healthy relationship is and isn’t as well as
insights and skills for handling the early chemistry of attraction and choosing partners wisely. Teens
learn the building blocks of healthy relationships and are encouraged to identify relationship qualities
they find personally important. They are provided principles to guide them in early relationship
development. Frameworks to assess relationships are employed to help teens in relationship decision-
making. They are provided a low-risk strategy, Decide, Don’t Slide!, model to guide them in reducing
the potential for high-cost consequences of risky behaviors and attachment to problem people.
Relationship Smarts PLUS builds teens’ awareness of the red flags of unhealthy and abusive
relationships and ways to exit those relationships safely. Teens are encouraged to set boundaries and
practice drawing the line of respect at the first sign of disrespect in a relationship. Teens learn how to
handle breakups and move forward.

Previous Page Next Page

(c)  2025 The Dibble Institute. All Rights reserved.

i
Copyright 2023 Marline E. Pearson
Table of Contents
Introduction to Relationship Smarts PLUS. ................iii
Instructor Tips. ...........................................................viii
Lesson 1: Who Am I and Where Am I Going?.......1
• Possible Selves Tree
• My Friends and My Future
• Being Yourself: Dealing with Pressure Situations
Lesson 2: Maturity and What I Value....................19
• Four Dimensions of Maturity
• Maturity—Where Are You?
• Clarifying Values
• What’s Important to Me?
Lesson 3: Attractions and Infatuation. ..................35
• Test Your Love Smarts
• Relationship Pyramid
• The Chemistry of Attraction
Lesson 4: Principles of Smart Relationships. ......55
• Smart or Not-So-Smart?
• Seven Principles of Smart Relationships
• Seven Questions to Ask
• Three Sides of Love
Lesson 5: Is It a Healthy Relationship?.................73
• How Can You Tell?
• Unmet Needs and Unhealthy Relationships
• Having Fun
• Tips for Teens
Lesson 6: Breaking Up and Dating Violence. ......89
• Breaking Up
• Early Warnings and Red Flags
• Violence: Why it Happens, What Helps, Signs
of Danger
• Sexual Assault
• Draw the Line of Respect
• Sex Trafficking—Prevention
Lesson 7: Decide, Don’t Slide! Pathways to
Success..................................................................123
• Sliding vs. Deciding and Personal Development
• Sliding vs. Deciding and Relationships
• A Low-Risk Deciding Approach
• Making Decisions
• Pathways and Sequences Towards Success
Lesson 8: Communication and Healthy
Relationships.......................................................153
• Communication Patterns Learned in Family
• Patterns that Harm Relationships
• Angry Brains and the Power of Time Outs
• The Speaker Listener Technique—When Talking
is Difficult
Lesson 9: Communication Challenges and
More Skills..........................................................177
• Complain and Raise Issues Effectively
• Hidden Issues Under Arguments
• A Problem-Solving Model
• Taking Care of Relationships
• A Brief Review
Lesson 10: Sexual Decision-Making....................197
• Let’s Talk About Sex
• What is Intimacy, Actually?
• Am I Ready?
• Risks of Sliding—Benefits of Deciding
• Set Your Personal Line &Getting On the Same Page
Lesson 11: Pregnancy, STIs and HIV...................229
• Test Your Sex Smarts
• STIs and HIV Are for Real
• Alcohol and Drugs—Increasing the Risks
• My Personal Plan
• Pressure Situations, Refusal Skills, &Exit Strategies
Lesson 12: Unintended Pregnancy Through
the Eyes of a Child.............................................259
• Child Looking for a Family
• What about Fathers?
• Child Speak—Brighter Futures
Lesson 13: Teens, Technology, and Social Media...291
• Constantly Connected—For Better and Worse
• Relationships in the Digital World
• Pornography—Informed Decision-Making
• Cyberbullying
• Designing a Personal Policy
• Planning for Success
About the Author........................................................335
Acknowledgements. ....................................................336
Colored Activity Cards

Previous Page Next Page

(c)  2025 The Dibble Institute. All Rights reserved.

Page 1Relationship Smarts PLUS 5.0 Instructor’s Manual click to expand contents

Page 400Relationship Smarts PLUS 5.0 Journal click to expand contents

Extracted Text (may have errors)

Help

loading