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worthy of serious theoretical or empirical concern. This state of affairs has changed dramatically in the last decade or so and there is now a substantial body of theory and research on adolescent romantic relationships and their developmental signicance. Our interest in the study of romantic relationships grew out of a research agenda focused on adolescents peer relationships. Studying adolescents peer networks and their interactions with friends showed that there were important relationships which were not being fully accounted for. In particular, there were signicant relationships with other-sex peers, some of whom were boyfriends or girlfriends, embedded in their social networks which were not being modeled (Connolly & Johnson, 1996). These initial ndings inspired a compelling curiosity to better understand these relationships and created a research agenda broadly focused on their development. Together with my graduate students, we have been pursuing three central research themes over the past decade. These topics can be summarized in the following way: 1) understanding how and why adolescents romantic relationships begin and end; 2) examining intimacy and autonomy in romantic relationships, and nally; 3) exploring the developmental and contextual predictors of precocious entry into romantic relationships. We have approached this research from a developmental-contextual perspective in which we understand romantic relationships as unfolding within a broader social context made of up peers, family and ecological systems. Within this approach we are cognizant that romantic relationships are themselves a context for the navigation of salient developmental tasks (Connolly & Goldberg, 1999). In this article, we summarize some of our ndings, focusing on how they advance our understanding of adolescents romantic relationships and also noting areas for future study. First, it is important to situate our research geographically and methodologically. Our research is largely conducted in the eld that is, in middle schools and high schools in the south-central region of Canada. This is a typically North American context, closer in values and structures to America than to Europe or other parts of the world. Canada, and especially Toronto, is very diverse culturally and a wide range of ethno-cultural groups are represented in our samples. This diversity has allowed us to explore facets of romantic relationships across cultural lines, which we believe is critical to understanding romantic relationships and the contributing role of context in their development. Turning to our methods, we typically use self-report surveys completed by students in school. Conscious of the limitations associated with these samples of convenience, we have devised numerous strategies to maximize students participation in our research, and our samples typically include upwards of 70 percent of the eligible students (McIsaac, McKenney, & Connolly, 2007). Our research is most often collected longitudinally over periods ranging from one year to over eight years. In addition, we have used observational methods to study the internal dynamics of adolescents relationships with their romantic partners, especially in the study of conict and negotiation. As with our school-based research, our observational studies are also collected in situ, through visits to adolescents homes. These multiple methods allow us to gain a more
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Table 1. Romantic Relationship Dissolution Experiences Across Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
Age range Experience with dissolutions Had a break-up No Yes Number of break-ups 12 35 >5 Break-up in past 12 months Yes No Break-up initiator Self Mutual Partner 1113 1416 1719 2025
54% 46% 65% 17% 18% 78% 22% 40% 44% 16%
23% 77% 56% 28% 16% 66% 34% 42% 38% 20%
Note. For 1113 n = 533, 1416 n = 409, 1719 n = 223, 2025 n = 192.
relationship turnovers over the course of a year, (Connolly & McIsaac, 2003; 2004). These results, shown in Table 1, support the view that relationship terminations are common throughout adolescence. Moreover, the number of youths who have had a termination increases steadily with age, as well as the total number of terminations that they have had. Also varying with age is the likelihood of having had a recent breakup, with younger adolescents being more likely to report a breakup in the last 12 months, compared to late adolescents and emerging adults. This is most probably due to the increased capacity for older youths to sustain more enduring relationships which are less vulnerable to rapid dissolution. Constant across age, adolescents told us that their relationships more often ended because of their own or shared dissatisfaction rather than being rejected by their partner. Although the retrospective nature of our data do not allow us to draw rm conclusions about what actually transpired at the time of the break-up, our ndings nonetheless suggest that adolescents continue to think about their failed relationships. Studying their dissolution accounts, even after the event, may provide a window into the psychosocial needs which were not met in that relationship. From a developmental perspective, the unmet needs that lead to break-ups may be very similar to the social needs which motivate adolescent involvement in relationships in the rst place. One direction that we are pursuing in our research is to employ prospective data to explore whether these needs can be framed in terms of adolescents struggles with key psychosocial tasks.
important opportunity for learning about how to connect with a signicant other while simultaneously maintaining some degree of autonomy in their thoughts, behaviors and self-perceptions (Connolly & Goldberg, 1999). Several theorists (Blatt & Blass, 1996; Shulman & Knafo, 1997) have conceptualized the balance between connectedness and individuality as a life span challenge of close relationships and we have found this view helpful in conceptualizing adolescent romantic relationships. In our view, the ways in which connectedness and autonomy are expressed in a romantic relationship emerges progressively, as adolescents gain experience with romantic partnerships and also as their relationships deepen emotionally. Initially, romantic relationships are motivated by a need for connectedness which is cumulatively expressed through passionate attraction, afliative bonding, and emotional intimacy (Connolly & Goldberg, 1999). These interwoven forms of connecting with a partner are apparent in adolescents concepts of the motivational appeal of romantic relationships. In a study of 1755 young adolescents, perceptions of the unique features of romantic relationships were evaluated with an open-ended response format. Using content analysis to code their responses, we found a clustering of connectedness functions which included afliation, sexuality and emotional intimacy. Afliation was the most commonly reported connectedness feature, a nding which supports our work on the importance of companionship and shared activities in romantic development for adolescents. A multi-level understanding of connectedness was evident, despite the young age of the participants and their relative lack of experience with a romantic partner. Consistent with this, intimacy functions continued to be fundamental to romantic relationships throughout adolescence. At the same time there is increasing capacity to actualize these forms of intimacy with age. Older adolescents, by virtue of their expanding experiences with romance, are able to sustain longer-term relationships within which intimacy can ourish (Connolly & Johnson, 1996; SeiffgeKrenke, 2003). In contrast, we know less about the expression of autonomy with a romantic partner. This may be due to the traditional empirical focus on the parent-child relationship as the central context for the resolution of autonomy tasks and the difculty of generalizing these ndings to the romantic domain (Collins, Laursen, Mortensen, Leubker, & Ferreria, 1997). Further complicating matters, autonomy issues are not always apparent in adolescents romantic relationships because the need to differentiate the self from the partner only arises when high levels of intimacy threaten personal boundaries. These issues typically come to the forefront in the latter stages of romantic development when age and experience combine to lead to more committed relationships. Consistent with this developmental view, our study of the romantic concepts of young adolescents did not reveal any recognition of the potential autonomy components of romantic relationships (Connolly, Craig, Goldberg, & Pepler, 1999). Similarly, in a study of 230 mid- and late adolescents, we found that comfort with independent decision-making was associated with intimacy only in longer-term romantic relationships (Taradash, Connolly, Pepler, Craig, & Costa, 2001). Girls in this study, in contrast to the boys, showed more ease with asserting their own ideas and decisions in their romantic
relationships, a nding that echoes girls more advanced uency in dyadic relationships. We have continued to look at how boys and girls negotiate autonomy in their relationships with each other in an observational study of conict management in romantic couples at age 16 (McIsaac, Connolly, McKenney, Pepler, & Craig, manuscript under review). Conict is an interpersonal situation which demands self-expression and so is ideally suited to the study of autonomy processes. In analyzing the dynamics between boyfriends and girlfriends, we found that couples who managed conict successfully showed both a capacity for the respectful self-expressions of their differences and an acceptance of the independence of their partners. The reciprocity was largely dependent on the girls actions in the relationship as her facility with conict negotiation set the tone for the autonomous expression of both herself and her partner. Of particular interest, we also found that girls who were restrictive in their management of conict also inuenced their boyfriends, but in a negative direction. A future direction of our research program is to better understand gendered styles of interaction and how they may lead to differential success in the balancing of autonomy with intimacy.
Conclusions
Our research on the stages, tasks and timing of romantic relationships paints a holistic picture of these interactions, highlighting their developmental underpinnings as well as their responsiveness to contextual variation. Disconrming earlier views that romantic relationships are unknowable and unimportant, our research suggests that they unfold systematically and serve multiple psychosocial functions. This view reinforces the notion that romantic relationships are a critical social context for preparing youth for successful relationships in later life.
References
Bingham, C.R., & Crockett, L.J. (1996). Longitudinal adjustment patterns of boys and girls experiencing early, middle, and late sexual intercourse. Developmental Psychology, 32, 647658. Blatt, S.J., & Blass, R.B. (1996). Relatedness and selfdenition: A dialectic model of personality development. In G. Noam & K. Fischer (Eds.), Development and vulnerability in close relationships (pp. 309338). NJ: Erlbaum. Collins, W.A. (2003). More than myth: The developmental signicance of romantic relationships during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13, 124. Collins, W.A., Laursen, B., Mortensen, N., Luebker, C., & Ferreria, M. (1997). Conict processes and transitions in parent and peer relationships: Implications for autonomy and regulation. Journal of Adolescent Research, 12, 178198. Connolly, J., Craig, W., Goldberg, A., & Pepler, D. (1999). Conceptions of cross-sex friendships and romantic relationships in early adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 481493. Connolly, J., Craig, W., Goldberg, A., & Pepler, D. (2004). Mixed-gender groups, dating and romantic relationships in early adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14, 185207. Connolly, J., Furman, W., & Konarski, R. (2000). The role of peers in the emergence of heterosexual romantic relationships in adolescence. Child Development, 71, 13951408. Connolly, J., & Goldberg, A. (1999). Romantic relationships in adolescence: The role of friends and peers in their emergence and development. In W. Furman, B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 266290). NY: Cambridge University Press. Connolly, J., & Johnson, A. (1996). Adolescents romantic relationships and the structure and quality of their close interpersonal ties. Personal Relationships, 3, 185195. Connolly, J., & McIsaac, C. (2003). Developmental-contextual analysis of adolescents attributions for romantic relationship dissolution. In J. Connolly & W. Furman (Chairs), Understanding romantic relationship break-ups in adolescence. Paper symposium presented at the biennial meeting for the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL. Connolly, J., & McIsaac, C. (2004). Romantic dissolutions in adolescence: Negative affect, attributions, and romantic condence. In J. Connolly & C. Feiring (Chairs), Positive
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and negative processes within romantic relationships. Poster symposium presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Baltimore, MD. Connolly, J., Pepler, D., Craig, W., & Taradash, A. (2000). Dating experiences of bullies in early adolescence. Child Maltreatment, 5, 299310. Darling, N., Dowdy, B.B., Van Horn, M.L., & Caldwell, L.L. (1999). Mixed-sex settings and the perception of competence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 461481. Friedlander, L., Connolly, J., Pepler, D., & Craig, W. (in press). Biological, familial, and peer inuences on dating in early adolescence. Archives of Sexual Behavior. McIsaac, C., Connolly, J., McKenney, K.S., Pepler, D., & Craig, W. (manuscript under review). Conict negotiation and autonomy processes in adolescent romantic relationships: An observational study of interdependency in boyfriend and girlfriend effects. Journal of Adolescence. McIsaac, C., McKenney, K.S., & Connolly, J. (2007). To Participate or Not Participate?: Adolescents Response to Strategies Targeting Increased Participation. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Boston, MA. McMaster, L., Connolly, J.A., Pepler, D., & Craig, W. (2002). Peer to peer sexual harassment in early adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 2556. Neemann, J., Hubbard, J., & Masten, A.S. (1995). The changing importance of romantic relationship involvement to competence from late childhood to late adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 727750. Seiffge-Krenke, I. (2003). Testing theories of romantic development from adolescence to young adulthood: Evidence of a developmental sequence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 519531. Shulman, S., & Kipnis, O. (2001). Adolescent romantic relationships: A look from the future. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 337351. Shulman, S., & Knafo, D. (1997). Balancing closeness and individuality in adolescent close relationships. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21, 687702. Taradash, A., Connolly, J., Pepler, D., Craig, W., & Costa, M. (2001). The interpersonal context of romantic autonomy in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 365377.
typically begin around 14 to 15 years of age, initially as an extension of involvement in mixed gender peer groups (Feiring, 1996). The romantic relationship is associated with both positive mental health such as the provision of social support, the enhancement of self-esteem, preparation for adult relationships, and the development of intimacy (Connolly & Goldberg, 1999) and negative mental health such as feelings of depression, especially among adolescent girls (Davila, Steinberg, Kachadourian, Cobb, & Fincham, 2004). Not much literature is available on how romantic relational aggression and victimization affects psychosocial functioning in adolescence. Linder, Crick, and Collins (2002) found that college students who reported using relational aggression within their romantic relationships were less trusting of their current or most recent partner, and more frustrated, jealous, and clingy in their romantic relationships. Bagner, Storch, and Preston (2007) also found similar results indicating that romantic relational aggression was related to poor psychosocial functioning.
report lower levels of friendship quality and satisfaction than non-relationally victimized children (Grotpeter, Geiger, Nukulkij, & Crick, 2001). Such early links of relational aggression to relationship quality highlight the need for the study of relational aggression in romantic relationships, particularly as it may be linked to the psychosocial adjustment areas of social anxiety, loneliness, depression, and alcohol use.
Marttunen, Tuulio-Henriksson, Poikolainen, & Loennqvist, 2002). Symptoms of depression and social anxiety may also be precursors to more severe psychopathology, including major depressive disorder and social anxiety disorder, which are chronic disorders that often originate in adolescence and continue into adulthood (Birmaher et al., 1996). It is likely that relational aggression is related to levels of depression experiences within relationships. Studying the impact of romantic relationship aggression on psychosocial adjustment is very important because youths may be more vulnerable to negative outcomes due to their inexperience and lack of close supervision. Studies have shown that more than 25 % of adolescents are victims of dating aggression (Wolfe & Feiring, 2000) resulting in romantic break-ups which in turn, lead to drinking, suicidal ideation, attempts and completion (Brendt et al., 1993; Joyner & Udry, 2000; Monroe, Rhode, Seeley, & Lewinsohn, 1999). Peer pressure further facilitates the perpetration of aggressive acts in romantic relationships. Thus, by understanding the relationship between aggression in romantic relationships and adjustment difculties, more effective interventions for these individuals can be implemented.
Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations of Romantic relational aggression, Romantic relational victimization and Social Anxiety, Loneliness, and Depression
Total sample (N = 183) Dependent variable Romantic Relational Aggression Romantic Relational Victimization Social Anxiety Loneliness Depression *p < .05; **p < .01. Mean 10.50 9.24 75.37 95.48 12.70 (SD) (7.1) (7.2) (14.6) (14.7) (10.9)
Gender Male (N = 73) Mean 12.8 11.8 76.95 91.39 15.67 (SD) (7.13) (6.68) (10.08) (14.7)0 (12.0)0 Female (110) Mean 8.90 7.50 74.32 98.19 10.73 (SD) (6.6) (7.0) (16.8) (14.1) (9.0) t 3.69** 4.11** 1.19** 3.13** 3.16**
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Table 2. Pearson product-moment correlations among Romantic Relational Aggression and Social Anxiety, Loneliness, and Depression (N = 183)
1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Romantic Relational Aggression Romantic Relational victimization Social Anxiety Loneliness Depression 1.00** .79** .21** .25** .39**
1.00** .24**
1.00
Findings reveal a signicant gender difference in romantic relational aggression. This is inconsistent with past research (Bagner et al., 2007; Linder et al., 2002) that has not found gender differences in romantic relational aggression. The gender differences indicate that males report both more relational aggression and victimization. There are different possible explanations for this. First, males may have higher self-esteem, and larger egos than females, and are perhaps therefore more sensitive to provocation and loss of respect by others (Fischer, Rodreiguez, & Mosquera, 2001). Further, males get more angry when their partner does not pay attention to them. This might be due to cultural differences and developmental issues. For example, girls in the Indian socio-cultural context, are supposed to be quiet, calm and show more rened behavior in comparison to males (Saini & Trama, in press). Therefore, it is possible that socialization practices and modelling may inhibit the emergence of relational aggression among girls when compared to the western cultures studied in previous ndings. My second hypothesis was to examine the association between romantic relational aggression and romantic relational victimization. There is a high relation between romantic relational aggression and victimization, suggesting that relationships characterized by these behaviours have some reciprocal aggression. However, it is also important to note that use of self-report may not accurately reect levels of victimization. Males simply may be more likely than females to report being victims of aggression, including romantic relational aggression. Therefore, it is suggested to use other methods such as having both partners in the relationship report to conrm this result. The nal aim of the study was to examine correlations between romantic relational aggression, victimization, and psychosocial functioning. The ndings show that romantic relational aggression was signicantly and positively related to social anxiety, loneliness and depressive symptoms. Individuals who reported using romantic relational aggression reported being more socially anxious, lonely and depressive. Results are consistent with previous ndings on romantic relational aggression and depressive symptoms (Davila et al., 2004; Kashdan, Jeffrey, Volkmann, Breen, & Han, 2007). La Greca and Harrison (2005) also found that negative interactions with a best friend (e.g. conict, exclusion) predicted adolescents depressive symptoms, even after controlling for other aspects of social functioning (rejection, victimization). Individuals who reported being victimized in romantic relationship were similarly more socially anxious, lonely,
and depressed. Results are consistent with previous ndings (Graham, & Juvonen, 1998; Linder et al., 2002). Graham and Juvonen (1998) found that peer victimization in adolescents was associated with internal distress, including feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, and low self-worth. Both overt and relational victimization have been related to adolescents reports of depression, loneliness, and low selfesteem (Prinstein, Boergers, & Vernberg, 2001). Prospero (2007) in a study of mental health symptoms of partner violence also found signicant relationships between partner violence victimization and anxiety, depression, hostility and somatization.
Conclusion
In sum, the associations between romantic relational aggression, victimization and psychosocial functioning are consistent with previous ndings, i.e. higher levels of romantic relational aggression and victimization are associated with maladjustment and poor psychosocial functioning. These relationships are independent of gender and play an important role in development of social anxiety, loneliness and depressive symptoms. No association was found between romantic relational aggression and alcohol use. Only ten boys and two girls reported alcohol use. It might be due to the participants socioeconomic background. Limitations of the study should also be noted. First, the participants were university students in India, limiting generalizability and therefore conclusions cannot be made about romantic relational aggression in other populations. Second, there was a big gender difference in the sample. Third, the present ndings yielded evidence of concurrent associations between romantic relational aggression and victimization and depressive symptoms, but they are unable to allow us to infer which, if either, preceded the other. Fourth, students did not report any alcohol use. It might be that they have underreported these behaviors. Despite these limitations, the results of the present ndings have several practical and clinical implications. Most importantly, the present ndings have important implications in school/college/university setting where such relationships are very common and health care providers can be aware of risk factors involved with romantic relational aggression and victimization so that students at risk could be identied and necessary services could be provided. Additionally these ndings demonstrate that knowing about an individuals use of relational
aggression against ones romantic partner is also an indicator of victimization in the relationship and his/her psychosocial functioning.
References
Aalto-Setaelae, T., Marttunen, M., Tuulio-Henriksson, A., Poikolainen, K., & Loennqvist, J. (2002). Depressive symptoms in adolescence as predictors of early adulthood depressive disorders and maladjustment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 12351237. Bagner, D.M., Storch, E.A., & Preston, A.S. (2007). Romantic Relational Aggression: What about Gender? Journal of Family Violence, 22, 1924. Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.K. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory manual (2nd ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation. Birmaher, B., Ryan, N.D., Douglas, E.W., Brent, D.A., Kaufman, J., Dahl, R.E., Perel, J., & Nelson, B. (1996). Childhood and adolescent depression: A review of the past 10 years. Part I. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 14271439. Brendt, D.A., Perper, J.A., Moritz, G., Baugher, M., Roth, C., Balach, L. et al. (1993). Stressful life events, psychopathology, and adolescent suicide: A case control study. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 23, 179187. Carver, K., Joyner, K., & Udry, J.R. (2003). National estimates of adolescent romantic relationships. In P. Florsheim (Ed.), Adolescent romantic relationships and sexual behavior: Theory, research, and practical implications (pp. 291329). New York: Cambridge University. Connolly, J., & Goldberg, A. (1999). Romantic relationships in adolescence: The role of friends and peers in their emergence and development. In W. Furman, B.B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 266290). New York: Cambridge Press. Crick, N.R., & Grotpeter, J.K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710722. Davila, J., Steinberg, S.J., Kachadourian, L., Cobb, R., & Fincham, F. (2004). Romantic involvement and depressive symptoms in early and late adolescence: The role of preoccupied relational style. Personal Relationships, 11, 161178. Fischer, A.H., Rodreiguez, & Mosquera, P.M. (2001). What concerns men? Women or other men. Psychology, Evolution and Gender, 3, 525. Graham, S., & Juvonen, J. (1998). Self-blame and peer victimization in middle school: An attributional analysis. Developmental Psychology, 34, 587538. Grotpeter, J.K., Geiger, T.C., Nukulkij, P., & Crick, N.R. (2001). Friendships of relationally and physically victimized children: With friends like these, who needs enemies? Unpublished manuscript. Hayes, S.C., Wilson, K.G., Gifford, E.V., Follette, V.M., & Strosahl, K. (1996). Experiential avoidance and behavioral disorders: A functional dimensional approach to diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 11521168. Jha, P.K. (1997). Loneliness scale manual. Agra, India: National Psychological Cooperation. Joyner, K., & Udry, J.R. (2000). You dont bring me anything
but down: Adolescent romance and depression. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 41, 369391. Kashdan, T.B., Volkmann, J.R., Breen, W.E., & Han, S. (2007). Social anxiety and romantic relationships: The costs and benets of negative emotion expression are context-dependent. Journal of Anxiety disorder, 21, 475492. La Greca, A.M., & Harrison, H.M. (2005). Adolescent peer relations, friendships, and romantic relationships: Do they predict social anxiety and depression? Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 4961. La Greca, A.M., & Lopez, N. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 8394. Linder, J.R., Crick, N.R., & Collins, W.A. (2002). Relational aggression and victimization in young adults romantic relationships: Associations with perceptions of parent, peer, and romantic relationship quality. Social Development, 11, 6986. Magdol, L., Moftt, T.E., Caspi, A., & Silva, P.A. (1998). Developmental antecedents of partner abuse: A prospective-longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 375389. Monroe, S.M., Rohde, P., Seeley, J.R., & Lewinsohn, P.M. (1999). Life events and depression in adolescence: Relationship loss as a prospective risk factor for rst onset of major depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 606614. Morales, J.R., & Cullerton-Sen, C. (2000, March). Relational and physical aggression and psychological adjustment in adolescent peer and romantic relationships. Poster presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Chicago, IL. Morales, J.R., Ruh, J., & Werner, N. (2002). Adult aggression/victimization measure. Unpublished manuscript. Peplau, L.A., & Perlman, D. (1982). Perspectives on loneliness. In L.A. Peplau & D. Perlman (Eds.), Loneliness. A sourcebook of current theory, research and therapy (pp. 118). New York: Wiley. Prinstein, M.J., Boergers, J., & Vernberg, E.M. (2001). Overt and relational aggression in athletes: Social-psychological adjustment of aggressors and victims. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 479491. Prospero, M. (2007). Mental health symptoms among male victims of partner violence. American Journal of Mens Health, 1, 269277. Saini, S., & Trama, S. (in press). Gender difference in anger, hostility and aggression. Asian Journal of Social Psychology. Wittchen, H.U., Fuetsch, M., Sonntag, H., Mueller, N., & Liebowitz, M. (2000). Disability and quality of life in pure and comorbid social phobia: Findings from a controlled study. European Psychiatry, 15, 4658. Wolfe, D.A., & Feiring, C. (2000). Dating violence through the lens of adolescent romantic relationships. Child Maltreatment, 5, 360363.
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support and validation. Yet this is not uniformly true crossculturally. Hence, researchers interested in pursuing international investigations of same-sex romantic relationships must take particular care not to presume that participants in such relationships will openly claim lesbian-gaybisexual identities. My own longitudinal research on sexual identity, for example, has found surprisingly high variability in sexual identication and patterns of sexual relationships in young women over time. In 1995 I began interviewing 89 lesbian, bisexual, questioning, and unlabeled women about their attractions, identities, and behaviors, and have reinterviewed these women every two years since then, with a retention rate of approximately 90 % (Diamond, 1998; 2000b; 2003; 2005; 2008; in press). Since the beginning of the study, two thirds of the participants have changed their identity labels, and the majority have histories of romantic or sexual relationships that atly contradict their current identity labels (i.e., lesbian-identied women getting involved with men, heterosexually-identied women getting involved with women). Hence, an important challenge for research in this area is to adopt broad strategies of sample recuitment and data collection that capture the full range of individuals same-sex and other-sex experiencesand their psychosocial implicationsregardless of how individuals personally conceptualize and label their sexuality. In growing acknowledgment of these complexities, researchers increasingly use the term sexual minorities to refer to all men and women with same-sex attractions and/ or relationships, either currently or in the past. This term acknowledges the fact that regardless of ones identity label, same-sex attractions and relationshipsin both the U.S. and around the globeplace individuals rmly outside conventional societal norms. This emphasis on minority status is relevant and important because although tolerance and acceptance of same-sex sexuality have been gradually increasing (Loftus, 2001), considerable prejudice and sometimes outright condemnation of same-sex sexuality continues to exist. This creates a range of unique social and psychological challenges for same-sex couples, such as the threat of physical violence (i.e., Brenner, 1995), disapproval or denial of ones relationship from either partners family-of-origin (Caron & Ulin, 1997; LaSala, 2000; Oswald, 2002; Patterson, 2000), and also low-level stressors such as difculty making hotel room reservations (Jones, 1996), receiving poor service and rude treatment during routine shopping (Walters & Curran, 1996), or uncertainty about bringing ones partner to family functions (Caron & Ulin, 1997; Oswald, 2002). Of course, such factors are likely to vary dramatically as a function of different cultures attitudes toward samesex sexuality. Given that the bulk of research on same-sex couples is conducted in the United States, it is important to keep in mind that, among Western nations, Americans are particularly conservative in this regard. Widmer, Treas, and Newcombs (1998) analysis of 24 industrialized countries participating in the International Social Survey Program found that 70% of Americans believe that homosexual sex is always wrong, compared with 39% of Canadians, 58% of British, 45% of Spaniards, and 42% of West Germans. The most conservative attitudes were found in Northern Ireland (80% reporting always wrong), Hungary (83%)
and the Philippines (84%), whereas the most accepting attitudes were found in the Netherlands (19%). Such variation must be taken into account when drawing inferences about the relevance of social stigma for same-sex couples across diverse cultural contexts. It also bears noting that no research has systematically tested whether same-sex couples living in more tolerant communities, cultures, or nations have substantially different relationship dynamics or outcomes than those living in more stigmatizing environments. This is an important area for future research.
cooking, while Deb takes care of social arrangements and nancial planning). This is not to suggest, of course, that same-sex couples are uniformly successful in avoiding power differentials. For example, research has found that among both gay male and lesbian couples, income discrepancies tend to be associated with power differentials (Caldwell & Peplau, 1984; Harry, 1984; Harry & DeVall, 1978; Reilly & Lynch, 1990), more so for for gay men than for women (Blumstein & Schwartz, 1983). Some of the most interesting directions for future research concern gender-related patterns of conict resolution. Given the increasing evidence that (1) gender-related conict dynamics have clear-cut implications for both mental and physical health, and that (2) these health effects are themselves differentiated by gender, one intriguing new direction for future research involves moving beyond the global self-report measures that have characterized previous research on this topic and collecting coordinated physiological and observational data on conict resolution in same-sex couples. This is a direction my own laboratory is currently pursuing. Specically, following a methodology that has long been used with married heterosexual couples, we are bringing same-sex couples into our psychophysiological laboratory and videotaping them as they discuss a common topic of disagreement. Meanwhile, we are measuring each partners cardiovascular and endocrinological reactivity to the conict discussion. Previous research has suggested that the classic female demand, male withdrawal pattern is particularly aversive to both men and women (but especially women) and is associated with detrimental patterns of high and sustained physiological reactivity. But will same-sex couples show the same pattern? Is a double dose of withdrawal as bad for female-female couples as for male-female couples, or is withdrawal less aversive for women when it comes from another woman? By directly comparing male-male, femalefemale, and male-female couples conict patterns and their physiological reactivity, we hope to introduce a new level of specicity into the traditional investigations of gender-related dynamics in same-sex couples, and to explore their important implications for physical health.
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derive from these relationships. These transformations might be particularly meaningful for sexual-minority youths, given that same-sex sexuality is a fundamentally interpersonal as well as intrapsychic phenomenon. Because of their stigmatized minority status, sexualminority youths sometimes have to settle for partners and relationships they consider less than ideal. Others adapt to these hurdles by seeking out a diverse variety of sexual and affectionate same-sex bonds, many of which violate traditional conventional denitions of friendship and romance (Diamond, 2000a). It has been difcult to systematically chart and interpret such diverse relationship patterns because research on adolescent relationships has traditionally relied on vague, theoretically impoverished distinctions between different types of intimate relationships (Diamond, Savin-Williams, & Dub, 1999). Rough lines are drawn between platonic and romantic relationships, and between casual and serious romances, but rarely do researchers probe the full range of affectional and sexual ties that adolescents from diverse backgrounds might consider. For example, one pattern of same-sex romantic intimacy that has been observed primarily among young women is passionate friendships (Diamond, 2000a). These bonds typically contain the affective and behavioral features of romantic relationshipssuch as emotional passion, possessiveness, exclusivity, and frequent physical affectionwithout explicit sexual desire or activity (although in some cases, the bonds may eventually become physically intimate). Thus, passionate friendships may provide sexual-minority youths with all of the benets of a same-sex romantic relationship (most notably, social support and emotional intimacy) while avoiding many of the risks and complications. Notably, a similar degree of uidity and ambiguity between friendships and romantic relationships is also observed among adult sexual-minority women (Nardi & Sherrod, 1994; Rose, Zand, & Cimi, 1993; Weinstock, 1997). Thus, many sexual-minority youths most extensive experience with same-sex intimacy will occur in relationships that look nothing like typical dating or romantic relationships. These diverse relationship types might be conceptualized as different solutions to the problems all youthsbut especially sexual minority youthsface in balancing their needs and desires for sexual and affectional intimacy with the risks posed by different types of intimate relationships, as well as the constraints they face in nding the partners and relationships they want. It is important to note, however, that these constraints take a discernible toll on sexual-minority youths psychological well-being. In one recent study comparing the relationship experiences and expectations of heterosexual and sexual-minority youths, my research team used quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to investigate the mental health implications of sexual-minority and heterosexual youths experiences and expectations regarding friendships and romantic relationships (Diamond & Lucas, 2004). Consistent with prior research, we found that sexual-minority youths had higher levels of anxiety, loneliness, depression, and physical symptomology than their heterosexual counterparts. Yet importantly, these effects did not appear to be attributable to sexual-minority youths overall perceptions of stress and stigmatization, as is
commonly assumed. Rather, they were mediated by differences between heterosexual and sexual-minority youths romantic relationship expectations. Specically, sexualminority youths reported signicantly greater fears that they would never be able to nd the kind of romantic relationship I want in the future, even though they had social networks of comparable size and rates of romantic involvement that were similar to their heterosexual counterparts (this particular sample of sexual-minority youths were fairly out and active in the local lesbian-gaybisexual community, which increased their opportunities for same-sex romance). Mediational analyses demonstrated that these relationship fears were responsible for these youths disproportionately low well-being. Such ndings provide a stark demonstration of the importance of intimate relationship experiences for adolescent mental health.
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contemporary American culture regarding adolescent sexuality. Even in just the past 10 years, researchers have noted a rising tide of opposition to studies seeking to ask adolescents direct questions about their sexual and romantic feelings and experiences, despite the fact that the lack of a thoroughgoing understanding of youths experiences will clearly hamper our efforts to provide them with appropriate psychological and informational resources to make healthy decisions about their relationships. This increasing conservativism is particularly pernicious when it comes to same-sex sexuality. Researchers such as myself have had to become active advocates for the intellectual and social value of our research, arming ourselves with the wealth of evidence showing that adolescents are, in fact, well-served by the collection and dissemination of more and better data about the diversity of their intimate experiences and their developmental implications. Despite these challenges, I remain optimistic. The scope of research on same-sex relationships over the lifespan has broadened and diversied to a degree that I could scarcely have imagined when I rst began studying this topic, and no doubt these changes will continue to produce a deeper understanding of intimate relationships in the context of same-sex sexuality and a deeper understanding of same-sex sexuality in the context of intimate relationships.
References
Blumstein, P., & Schwartz, P. (1983). American couples: Money, work, sex. New York: Morrow. Brenner, C. (1995). Eight bullets: One womans story of surviving anti-gay violence. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books. Caldwell, M.A., & Peplau, L.A. (1984). The balance of power in lesbian relationships. Sex Roles, 10, 587599. Caron, S.L., & Ulin, M. (1997). Closeting and the quality of lesbian relationships. Families in Society, 78, 413419. Diamond, L.M. (1998). Development of sexual orientation among adolescent and young adult women. Developmental Psychology, 34, 10851095. Diamond, L. M. (2000a). Passionate friendships among adolescent sexual-minority women. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10, 191209. Diamond, L.M. (2000b). Sexual identity, attractions, and behavior among young sexual-minority women over a two-year period. Developmental Psychology, 36, 241250. Diamond, L.M. (2003). Was it a phase? Young womens relinquishment of lesbian/bisexual identities over a 5year period. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 352364. Diamond, L.M. (2005). A new view of lesbian subtypes: Stable vs. uid identity trajectories over an 8-year period. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 119128. Diamond, L.M. (2008). Sexual uidity: Understanding womens love and desire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Diamond, L.M. (in press). Female bisexuality from adolescence to adulthood: Results from a 10 year longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology. Diamond, L.M., & Lucas, S. (2004). Sexual-minority and heterosexual youths peer and family relationships: Experiences, expectations, and implications for wellbeing. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14, 313340. Diamond, L.M., Savin-Williams, R.C., & Dub, E.M. (1999).
Sex, dating, passionate friendships, and romance: Intimate peer relations among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents. In W. Furman & B. B. Brown (Eds.), Development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 175210): Cambridge University Press. Harry, J. (1984). Gay couples. New York: Praeger. Harry, J., & DeVall, W.B. (1978). The social organization of gay males. New York: Praeger. Huston, M., & Schwartz, P. (2002). Gendered dynamics in the romantic relationships of lesbians and gay men. In A. E. Hunter (Ed.), Readings in the psychology of gender: Exploring our differences and commonalities (pp. 167178). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Jones, D.A. (1996). Discrimination against same-sex couples in hotel reservation policies. Journal of Homosexuality, 31, 153159. Kitzinger, C. (1987). The social construction of lesbianism. London: Sage. Kurdek, L.A. (1998). Relationship outcomes and their predictors: Longitudinal evidence from heterosexual married, gay cohabiting, and lesbian cohabiting couples. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 553568. LaSala, M.C. (2000). Gay male couples: The importance of coming out and being out to parents. Journal of Homosexuality, 39, 4771. Loftus, J. (2001). Americas liberalization in attitudes toward homosexuality. American Sociological Review, 66, 762782. Nardi, P.M., & Sherrod, D. (1994). Friendship in the lives of gay men and lesbians. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11, 185199. Oswald, R.F. (2002). Inclusion and belonging in the family rituals of gay and lesbian people. Journal of Family Psychology, 16, 428436. Patterson, C. J. (2000). Family relationships of lesbians and gay men. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 10521069. Peplau, L.A., & Cochran, S.D. (1980, September). Sex differences in values concerning love relationships. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, Montreal, Canada. Reilly, M.E., & Lynch, J.M. (1990). Power-sharing in lesbian partnerships. Journal of Homosexuality, 19, 130. Rose, S., Zand, D., & Cimi, M.A. (1993). Lesbian courtship scripts. In E.D. Rothblum & K.A. Brehony (Eds.), Boston marriages (pp. 7085). Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Walters, A.S., & Curran, M.C. (1996). Excuse me, sir? May I help you and your boyfriend?: Salespersons differential treatment of homosexual and straight customers. Journal of Homosexuality, 31, 135152. Weinstock, J.S. (1997). Lesbian friendships: Simply an alternative or is this a revolution? In J.S. Weinstock (Chair), Lesbian friendships and social change. Symposium conducted at the annual meetings of the Association for Women in Psychology, Pittsburgh, PA. Widmer, E.D., Treas, J., & Newcomb, R. (1998). Attitudes toward nonmarital sex in 24 countries. Journal of Sex Research, 35, 349358. Zacks, E., Green, R.-J., & Marrow, J. (1988). Comparing lesbian and heterosexual couples on the Circumplex Model: An initial investigation. Family Process, 27, 471484.
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themselves when it concerns their sexual life. Sex is considered a taboo topic for discussion in most of our communities (Nsamenang, 2004) yet there are problems among spouses that make their sex lives unenjoyable thereby leading to extramarital relationships. If partners could feel free towards each other and express their feelings frankly, a solution could be sought. In this way, indelity could be checked thus letting out ill feeling and distress that comes with it. Tradition holds that marriage is polygamous, but under the inuence of Christianity many people commit to monogamous marriage and then indulge in secret extramarital relationships. Society sometimes looks at men in monogamous relationships as being weak, so some men indulge in extra marital relationships to prove their manhood and wealth. When people who live together for life become a nuisance to one another, their marriage becomes permeated by ill feeling and frustration. In Cameroon, as in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, in-laws can help a young couple to establish a loving marriage or break it down by initiating conicts based on jealousy, greed, or other negative traits.. As tradition demands, parents-in-law should accept their children-inlaw as members of their family. This will enable the family union to remain amicable and keep the extended family strong. Our results also revealed that communication was poor, primarily because spouses did not listen to each other. Communication without listening could be viewed as a waste of time and expression of the mind. The above explanation implies that there is good and bad communication as Wright (1981) says it. Good communication brings joy and bad communication reduces happiness. When communication is poor, cooperation within the family will be lacking. Cooperation shows a spirit of joint effort with common goals to be achieved. If we could go by the adage united we stand, divided we fall and the marriage principle of one plus one being one, then we can see that cooperation is a great component of marriage and family life. When marital partners are ignorant or neglect the importance of functioning as one, they will likely not have time for in-depth family discussion.
attachment to traditional norms and the pro-natalist value of marriage as a lifelong union. During marriage solemnisation over a calabash of palm wine in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, the young couple are made to understand that marriage is permanent before they share a cup of palm wine. This sharing thus opens the way for all other family members present to drink the wine, after emphasising on the permanent nature of the relationship being created by that rite. Upholding these traditional precepts is imperative because it is a deep-seated indigenous norm upon which the stability of the society and the pride and dignity of its members depend. By respecting these traditional beliefs and upholding the sanctity of marriage, ones personality and self-esteem are afrmed. Maintaining a marital relationship is seen as a developmental marker of maturity, which is indeed fullled with the birth and proper care of ones children. Those who fail to fulll their duties after marriage, or do not marry, bring shame and disgrace to themselves and their families. Society looks down on them and many people do not allow their children to marry into such families because of fears of contamination. When the marriage of children is threatened by problems of any kind, parents get in forcibly to bring peace because when those marriages are shaken it is an indication that their role in child upbringing and transmission of traditional cultural values was not efciently done, indicating a failure on their part. Persistence in marriage in spite of problems signies peoples ability to endure pain and hardship in order to uphold the sanctity of marriage, which is seen as the only acceptable cultural institution for child bearing and child rearing. By showing an enduring spirit, people further reveal that they are attached to the principle of moderation and functioning within ones circumstances.
Figure 1.
Spousal Union
Figure 2.
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Figure 3.
Marriage contract
disgrace to society. If people fail in child upbringing, society sees them as failures. Children are insurance for parents in old age because they will give aged parents the necessary assistance in later life: abandoning parents in old age would violate a fundamental duty. Parents who fail to give their children the best of education that can enable them earn a living will have nobody to take proper care of them with love and concern. Children who marry and have a family become a source of great pride to their parents; infertility and childlessness are a loathsome prospect. The children are said to be a source of continuation of the family lineage and insurance against permanent death, (Nsamenang, 2004). You are alive even after death because your whole image and behaviour are reected in the children you gave birth to. Since children in this sense will become ones history, everybody protects them and will consequently face any odds to have the children grow within a marital union. There are, however, single parents who do manage to bring up their children with utmost care so that they grow to live by the expectations of society and equally get to enjoy marital life. Parts of these ndings tie in with those of Soetan (1982) which revealed that in-laws have an effect on the marital life of men and women, and those of Filani (1984) which recommended training skills to foster marital adjustments. Over and above all, the ndings are consistent with the image of the African family being in a crisis of change (Weisner, Kilbride, & Bradely, 1997)
the questionnaire copies but did not return them, the reason being that they cannot discuss their marital issues with a non Moslem. It must be noted that this group of people give their children in marriage as early as 12 years (girls in particular). Finally, only the literate were used for this study in a region that has illiterates. The use of an interview might have provided some details that the questionnaire could not provide, but because we needed to maintain condentiality this could not be applied. Nevertheless, our study revealed a picture of couples in Cameroon persisting despite marital problems because of respect for age-old traditions. Though the study did not explore the effects of marital problems (and related frustration and stress) on respondents psycho-emotional well being, an association between the two is very likely (Johnson & Booth, 1990). The nature of the marital problems identied suggests the need for premarital and marital counselling. This would enable couples to identify their areas of weakness in relation to each other, and in the relationship as a whole. Consequently, adjustments could be made that may help to create an amicable relationship, even in times of socio-cultural changes that have led some Cameroonian couples into divorce and its challenges within a community that rejects it.
References
Bakare, C.G.M. (1970). Marital Adjustment Scale. Behavioural Science Research Unit Ibadan Nigeria. Filani, T.O. (1984). An Experimental Study of Communication Training and Cognitive Restructuring on Marital Adjustment of some Couples. Ibadan Nigeria. Johnson, D.R., & Booth, A. (1990). Rural Economic Decline and Marital Qualit. A panel study of farm marriage. Family Relations Journal of Applied Family and Studies, 39(2). Kersten, K.K. (1990). Family Interventions. Family Relations Journal of Applied Family Studies, 39(3). Mbiti, J.S. (1969). African Philosophy. Chaucer Press. MINPAT (2000). Cameroon Census Report by the Ministry of Plan and Regional Development. Nsamenang, A.B. (1992). Human Development in Cultural Context. A Third World Perspective. Nsamenang, A.B. (2000). Family and Marital Life Counselling. Lecture Notes: B.U.S.T Bamenda Cameroon. Nsamenang, A.B. (2004). Family and Marital Life Counselling. Lecture Notes: B.U.S.T Bamenda Cameroon. Soetan A. (1982). The Effects Of InLaws on The Marital Adjustment of Couples in Nigeria. University Ibadon Nigeria. Weisner, Bradley, & Kilbride (1997). African Families And The Crisis Of Social Change. London. Wright, H.N. (1981). The Family that Listens. Victor Books.
Conclusion
Our study is subjected to some limitations. Firstly, some of the social groups used for this research work meet in a common venue once a month, and others on a weekly basis. This slowed down the data collection process. It was timeconsuming and nancially demanding to get to these groups several times to get the questionnaire copies from the respondents. Secondly, only Christians were used for this study because Moslems, who constitute part of the population of Cameroon and this research area, received
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COMMENTARY: Adolescent and Young Adult Romantic RelationshipsThe Need for a Broader Conceptual Perspective
Shmuel Shulman Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel E-mail: Shulman@mail.biu.ac.il In the last decade or so the study of adolescent romantic relationships has evolved dramatically, shedding light on the centrality and importance of romance in the lives of adolescents (Collins, 2003). The main body of research on adolescent romantic relationships has been conceptualized within a developmental framework and draws from the study of peer relationships, which has affected the nature of sampling and research methodology. The four papers in this issue which focus on different aspects of romantic relationships and may seem unrelated to each other point, in my opinion, to the broader universal features and principles of romantic relationships and their function for the individual and society. In their paper, Connolly and McIsaac describe how their interest in the study of romantic relationships grew out of a research agenda focused on adolescents peer relationships (Furman, Brown, & Feiring, 1999). Within this understanding, earlier experiences with friends are carried over into, enacted and operate the emergent romantic relationships. For example, the capacity to balance the needs of self and other is associated with intimacy in romantic relationships (Friedlander, Connolly, Pepler, & Craig, in press). In a similar vein, a history of having been bullied by ones peer group may create later problematic conditions for young peoples romantic relationships (Williams, Connolly, & Cribbie, in press). However, despite the similarities to friendships, romantic relationships represent a highly distinctive, novel feature of adolescent social experience (Giordano, Manning, & Longmore, 2006). For example, in contrast to close friendships that are more settled, romantic relationships are characterized by heightened emotionality: love, attraction, sexual desires, and jealousy (Larson, Clore, & Wood, 1999). Though romantic relationships are the main relational context of sexual behavior (Furman & Shaffer-Hand, 2006), the elds of sexuality and romantic relationships among adolescents have been described as separate domains (Furman, 2002; Florsheim, 2003). The separation between romantic relationships and sexual behavior does not allow for a full understanding of the content and meaning of romantic relationships; understanding romantic relationships in a more integrative mode may lead to some new insights. In her seminal work, Fisher (Fisher, 1998, 2006; Fisher, Aron, Mashek, Li, & Brown, 2002) differentiated between three types of love experiences: lust, romantic attraction and romantic attachment. Lust is characterized by the craving for sexual gratication; attraction is characterized by elation, heightened energy, and craving for union with a beloved; and attachment is characterized by maintenance of proximity, afliation, and a sense of security and mutual commitment. Fishers work, conceptualized within an evolutionary framework (Fisher, 1998, 2006; Fisher et al., 2002) suggests that humans are programmed to build and maintain mating relationships for survival and procreation. Contingent upon the bio-
logical network for reproduction, adolescents and young adults, just like more mature adults, are susceptible to the search for a partner, the capacity to be emotionally swept away by romantic love and the desire to invest oneself in maintaining a relationship (Fisher, 2006, p. 9). Attraction has evolved to enable individuals to select preferable potential mating partners and to motivate them to focus their courtship attention on these individuals, thereby conserving courtship time and energy (Fisher, 1998; Fisher et al., 2002). Attraction is characterized by elation, heightened energy, mood swings, focused attention, obsessive thinking about a partner and craving for emotional union with him or her (Aron, Fisher, Mashek, Strong, Li, & Brown, 2005; Fisher et al., 2002). Individuals reporting feelings of attraction experience a host of labile psycho-physiological responses such as exhilaration and euphoria. They often think about the beloved obsessively, to the extent of intrusive thinking, including exclusively focused attention on the beloved and his/her well-being (Fisher, 1998). Attachment or companionate love (Fisher, 2006) is characterized by maintenance of proximity, afliative gestures, and expressions of calm and contentedness when in contact with the long-term mating partner. Similarly, within the framework of marital relationships and social psychology, adult as well as adolescent romantic relationships have been conceptualized in terms of afliation, intimacy, attachment, and commitment (Furman, Brown, & Feiring, 1999; Shaver & Hazan, 1988). Intimacy leads to a deeper and more committed form of relationship (Connolly & Goldberg, 1999). In turn, the presence of commitment leads to a long-term relationship, enhancing the bonding between partners, enabling them to express deeper levels of caring for each other (Brown, 1999) and forming the basis for the optimal development of offspring (Fisher, 2006). Adopting an ethological perspective suggests that romantic relationships among adolescents are more than simply a different form of peer relationship. While on the one hand, becoming attracted romantically, sexually involved, and learning to stay in a steady relationship are markers of adolescent development (Brown, 1999; Carver, Joyner, & Udry, 2003; Shulman & Scharf, 2000), these milestones are also central for an adaptive transition to adulthood aimed at procreation and the well-being of the next generation. Understanding romantic relationships as expressions of an ethologically driven process can explain their intensive dynamics and the importance culture attributes to them. A reading of the four papers shows that they did not emerge solely from a developmental perspective on adolescent romantic relationships, but also incorporate, in my opinion, ethological understandings despite the fact that this is not discussed explicitly. As they outline, Connolly and McIsaacs study grew out from a peer relationships agenda and their paper discusses components such as group dating and the balancing of connectedness and autonomy in romantic relationships. Connolly and McIsaac also examine romantic break-ups and tie them to psychosocial adolescent issues of intimacy and autonomy. However, despite its association with age related tasks, relationship termination is a major issue in the study of romantic relationships, and yet it is less examined in connection to adolescent friendships. Negotiating the needs of self and other is an important adolescent task in relations with parents, friends, and romantic partners (Shulman & Knafo, 1997). Difculties in this task may lead to relationship difculty or relationship termination. Sainis
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paper describes another form of relational difcultyromantic aggressionand shows the extent to which aggression and victimization between romantic partners affects individual mental health. Adolescent and young adult college students who reported being victimized by their romantic partner were more likely to report higher levels of anxiety and depression. From an ethological perspective these two papers focus on conditions differentiating between adaptive and less adaptive romantic relationships. During adolescence, individuals are supposed to learn to cope with the inevitable strains of keeping a romantic relationship intact (Connolly and McIsaac) and managing conicts and aggression (Saini). From an ethological perspective, acquiring the capability to become involved in a stable and adaptive romantic relationship is crucial for procreation and the well-being of the next generation as it is related to individual functioning within a relationship (Sainilow depression and anxiety) and to withstanding difculties that may lead to a break-up of the relationship (Connolly and McIsaac). The importance of establishing a long-lasting marital bond for the sake of reproduction and the well-being of the next generation is further embodied in Ngorans study on marital relationships in Bamenda Cameroon. It was interesting to learn how cultural transmission of rules, norms and values teaches and leads the younger generation starting from early childhood to adopt the role of husband/wife and of parent. Moreover, parents are supposed to bear marital and personal difculties for the sake of the children born into the marital bond. Diamonds paper, though originating in the United States, does not examine typically researched adolescent romantic relationships. Yet through the examination of young women who are highly variable in their sexual identication, Diamond offers new insights that are relevant for the understanding of romance across different populations. Diamond describes patterns of bonds that contain the affective and behavioral features of romantic relationships at large, such as emotional passion, exclusivity, physical affection, and sexual behavior. Her original contribution is the description of passionate friendships (Diamond, 2000) that resemble the behavior and emotional intensity of romantic relationships but lack explicit sexual activity or desire. Given the existing prejudices against sexual minority persons and personal struggles with sexual identity, it can be understood why the intimate relationships of some of these young women do not include explicit sexual activity or desire. Returning to Fishers ethological model (Fisher, 1998, 2006; Fisher, Aron, Mashek, Strong, Li, & Brown, 2002) can be helpful in better understanding the meaning of passionate friendships. According to Fisher, love experiences consist of lust, romantic attraction and romantic attachment. Refraining from explicit sexual activity does not necessarily exclude the additional forms of love experiences: attraction and attachment. The existence of the romantic attraction component is what differentiates between common friendships and passionate friendships (which are closer to and resemble full romantic relationships). Interestingly, as outlined above, the major body of research on adolescent romantic relationships was mainly generated within a developmental and peer relationship perspective. However, though the majority of adolescents sexual behaviors occur in the context of their romantic relationships (Giordano, Manning, & Longmore, 2006), the elds of adolescent romantic relationships and sexual behavior have not been integrated (Furman, 2002) and authors in one eld rarely reference the body of knowledge in the other eld. The research on relation-
ships treats relationships almost as if they were platonic. In contrast, the study of sexual behavior has been conducted within a health-risk framework and from a decit model and rarely considers the relational context in which the sexual behavior is occurring (Welsh, Rostosky, & Kawaguchi, 2000). Integration of the developmental and sexual perspectives on relationships is conducive to a comprehensive understanding of adolescent romantic relationships and their development. Integration of the two elds can be helpful for differentiating between adolescents whose sexual behaviors are expressions of normal, healthy exploration and those whose expressions of sexuality are symptomatic of psychological turmoil (Diamond & Savin-Williams, 2003; Florsheim, 2003; Lefkowitz & Gillen, 2006). A normative perspective examines the meaning of sexual behaviors, diversity of sexual behaviors (e.g., the importance of kissing; Welsh, Haugen, Widman, Darling, & Grello, 2005), the contexts in which they occur, and the individual characteristics of adolescents that can change the meaning of the sexual behaviors (Welsh et al., 2000). In two separate studies in the United States and in Israel, Welsh and her colleagues (Grello, Welsh, Dickson, & Harper, 2003; Grello, Welsh, & Harper, 2006), and we, ourselves, (Shulman, Weisman, & Schleyer, 2008) examined the interplay between romantic development and sexual behavior and its association with depression or problem behavior. By distinguishing between the varied relational contexts of the sexual behavior, our ndings revealed that sexual behavior within a steady romantic relationship, representing mastering the capability to become involved in stable relationships, was not associated with increased depressive symptoms. However, sexual behavior within transient romantic encounters, representing a possible a lag in romantic development, was associated with increased depressive symptoms. While Giordano and Furman (Giordano, et al.,, 2006; Furman & Shaffer-Hand, 2006) called attention to the fact that adolescent romantic relationships and sexual behavior are not integrated, little attention has been paid to the role of attraction in romantic relationships. Though studies within a social psychology perspective have dealt with and examined romantic attraction (see for example Hateld & Sprecher, 1986; Sternberg, 1998), this attraction has, however, been conceptualized as one form of a romantic experience but has not been seen as one of the three basic types of romantic relationships. In a forthcoming paper, we (Shulman, Mayes, Cohen, Swain, & Leckman, in press) examined the interplay between the intensity of romantic attraction among couples at the early stage of a relationship and their ability to cope with and resolve disagreements. Findings suggested that higher levels of romantic attraction are related to partners inclination to downplay their disagreements and to negotiate their differences less successfully. A second assessment of these couples after a period of six weeks showed that where levels of romantic attraction among romantic partners stayed stable, the partners showed an increasing ability to recognize and face their disagreements and that a tendency to negotiate disagreements more effectively started to emerge. Conceptually, these ndings suggest that two processes operate within a bond between romantic partners. The rst process refers to the attraction or preoccupation between partners as outlined by Fisher and the second refers to the quality of conict negotiation that evolves over time, representing the movement toward a stable and balanced relationship. Whereas at the initial stage of a romantic bond the attraction process overshadows partners behavior as theorized
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by Fisher (Fisher, 1998, 2006; Fisher et al., 2002), over time attachment between couples tends to become more prominent and is expressed through their increased competence in negotiating differences that is crucial for relationship stability. I approached the reading of the four papers from within the common romantic relationships approach that is embedded within a developmental and peer relationship framework. However, after reading them and realizing the unique contribution of each paper, I realized that a broader framework is required to put the four papers in context. Rereading them within Fishers ethological perspective points to the behavioral and emotional intensity of romantic relationships which are part of a powerful network for reproduction (Fisher, 2006, p. 9) and for this reason it is evidenced across cultures, adolescence and young adulthood, and nds unique expression in sexual minority populations.
References
Aron, A., Fisher, H., Mashek, D. J., Strong, G., Li, H., & Brown, L.L. (2005). Reward, motivation, and emotion systems associated with early-stage intense romantic love. Journal of Neurophysiology, 94, 327337. Brown, B.B. (1999). Youre going out with who? Peer group inuences on adolescent romantic relationships. In: W. Furman, B. B. Brown & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 291329). New York: Cambridge University Press. Carver, K., Joyner, K., & Udry, J.R. (2003). National estimates of adolescent romantic relationships. In P. Florsheim (Ed.), Adolescent romantic relations and sexual behavior: Theory, research, and practical implications (pp. 2356). Mahawah, NJ: Erlbaum. Collins, W.A. (2003). More than myth: The developmental signicance of romantic relationships during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13, 124. Connolly, J., & Goldberg, A. (1999). Romantic relationships in adolescence: the role of friends and peers in their emergence and development. In W. Furman, B. B. Brown, & C. Feiring (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 266290). New York: Cambridge University Press. Diamond, L.M. (2000). Passionate friendships among adolescent sexual-minority women. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10, 191209. Diamond, L.M., & Savin-Williams, R.C. (2003). The intimate relationships of sexual minority youths. In G. Adams & M. Berzonsky (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of adolescence (pp. 393412). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Fisher, H.E. (1998). Lust, attraction, and attachment in mammalian reproduction. Human Nature, 9, 2352. Fisher, H.E., Aron, A., Mashek, D., Li, H., & Brown, L.L. (2002). Dening the brain systems of lust, romantic attraction, and attachment. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 31, 4139. Fisher, H.E. (2006). Broken hearts: The nature and risks of romantic rejection. In A.C. Crouter & A. Booth (Eds.), Romance and sex in adolescence and emerging adulthood: Risks and opportunities (pp. 328). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Florsheim, P. (2003). Adolescent romantic and sexual behavior: What we know and where we go from here. In P. Florsheim (Ed.) Adolescent romantic relations and sexual behavior: Theory, research, and practical implications (pp. 371385). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Friedlander, L., Connolly, J., Pepler, D., & Craig, W. (in press). Biological, Familial and peer inuences on dating in early adolescence. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Furman, W., Brown, B.B., & Feiring, C. (Eds.) (1999). The development of romantic relationships in adolescence. New York: Cambridge University Press. Furman, W. (2002) The emerging eld of adolescent romantic relationships. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 177180. Furman, W., & Shaffer-Hand, L. (2006). The slippery nature of romantic relationships: Issues in denition and differentiation. In A. Crouter & A. Booth (Eds), Romance and sex in adolescence and emerging adulthood: Risks and opportunities (pp. 171178). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Giordano, P.C., Manning, W.D., & Longmore, M.A. (2006). Adolescent romantic relationships: An emerging portrait of their nature and developmental signicance. In A.C. Crouter & A. Booth (Eds.), Romance and sex in adolescence and emerging adulthood (pp. 127150). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Grello, C.M., Welsh, D.P., Dickson, J.W., & Harper, M.S. (2003). Dating and sexual relationship trajectories and adolescent functioning. Adolescent & Family Health, 3, 103112. Grello, C.M., Welsh, D.P., & Harper, M.S. (2006). No strings attached: The nature of casual sex in late adolescents. The Journal of Sex Research, 43, 255268. Hateld, E., & Sprecher, S. (1986). Measuring passionate love in intimate relationships. Journal of Adolescence, 9, 383410. Larson, R.W., Clore, G.L., & Wood, G.A. (1999). The emotions of romantic relationships: Do they wreak havoc on adolescents? In C. Feiring, W. Furman, & B.B. Brown (Eds.) The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 1949). NY, US: Cambridge University Press. Lefkowitz, E.S., & Gillen, M.M. (2006). Sex is just a normal part of life: Sexuality in emerging adulthood. In J.J. Arnett & J.L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 235256). Washington, DC: APA. Shaver, P.R., & Hazan, C. (1988). A biased overview of the study of love. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 5, 473501. Shulman, S., & Knafo, D. (1997). Balancing closeness and individuality in adolescent close relationship. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21, 687702. Shulman, S., Mayes, L.C., Cohen, T., Swain, J.E., & Leckman, J.F. (in press). Romantic attraction and conict negotiation among late adolescent and early adult romantic couples. Journal of Adolescence. Shulman, S., & Scharf, M. (2000). Adolescent romantic behaviors and perceptions: Age-related differences and links with family and peer relationships. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10, 99118. Shulman, S., Waisman, O., & Schleyer, M. (2008). Sexual behavior and depression: The role of adolescent casual and stable relationships. In S. Shulman (Chair), Adolescent sexual behavior and depression. Symposium accepted for presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Chicago, IL. Sternberg, R.J. (1998). Cupids arrow, the course of love through time. New York: Cambridge University Press. Welsh, D.P., Rostosky, S.S., & Kawaguchi, M.C. (2000). A normative perspective of adolescent girls developing sexuality. In C.B. Travis & J.S. White (Eds.), Sexuality, society, and feminism: Psychological perspectives on women (pp. 111140). Washington, DC: APA.
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Welsh, D.P., Haugen, P.T., Widman, L., Darling, N., & Grello, C.M. (2005). Kissing is good: A developmental investigation of sexuality in adolescent romantic couples. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 2, 3241. Williams, T., Connolly, J., & Cribbie, R. (in press). Light and heavy heterosexual activities of young Canadian adolescents: Normative patterns and differential predictors. Journal of Research on Adolescence.
aggression, highlighting the idea that aggression is reciprocal. Gladys Ngorans contribution further elaborates on the darker side of partnerships. It became apparent in her research in Cameroon that the lack of communication is common for couples, and that separation is perceived as personal shame and a problem for the larger community. Her contribution, like that of Connolly and McIsaac from Canada, shows that it is necessary to include the cultural background in order to advance our understanding of romantic relations. Clearly, we need more studies on adolescent couples from different ethnic backgrounds. But why is it urgently necessary to adopt a cultural perspective? In Western societies, adolescents make up a decreasing proportion of the overall population, whereas an increasing proportion of such youth are characterized by diversity in ethnic background and greater poverty. In general, culture teaches adolescents about romance, based on accepted traditions, mores and practices. Culture and tradition determine the meaning and signicance of romantic experiences, and as a result determine how adolescents behave in romantic exchanges (Brown et al., 2002). These cultural differences can be traced into marriage, as the contribution of Ngoran in this newsletter shows. There are signicant variations in dating and marriage rituals across different ethnic groups (Kagitcibasi, 1996). There is also quite high variation in the values and goals of a romance. For example, the Western and North American worldview places great value on individual expression, freedom and choice. In European countries, the idealization of romance has a long tradition since medieval times. For the Eastern worldview, what is best for the social group to which one belongs is more important than individual choice and freedom. For the African worldview, spirituality is important, and the focus is on connectedness to the extended family, as the contribution of Ngoran underscores. There are different cultural scripts stipulating the extent to which positive or negative emotions (such as aggression) are openly expressed. Furthermore, the impact of close friends and peers on the choice of romantic partner among teens is more pronounced in Western and North American cultures, while acceptance and expectations from parents are more important in other cultures. And there is of course a high variation in religiosity, parenting practices, and styles of intimacy in diverse nations which impacts romantic relationships. Conceptions of romance, behavior and scripts in romantic encounters are all inuenced by the cultural background of the adolescents. Because the developmental context of many adolescents in Western industrialized countries is now characterized by increasing ethnic diversity, romantic partners not infrequently come from different cultural backgrounds. Migrant adolescents may attempt to assimilate into the new culture by having a romance; the romantic liaison may serve as a way of being acculturated into the others partners group. On the one hand, cross-ethnic relationships offer a rich opportunity for broadening relationship experiences. On the other hand, tensions and conicts may arise between developing an ethnic identity and trying to t into the broader majority culture. Indeed, conicts are an integral part of any relationship, and it is important to balance both negative, i.e. conict-related, and positive relationship qualities in romantic partnerships. Not much research to date has dealt with specic stressors in romantic experiences. Longitudinal research on conict management (Nieder & Seiffge-Krenke, 2001) revealed a signicant decrease in romantic stress over time; concurrently, the
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quality of romantic relationships changed towards greater intimacy and affection. Adolescents from different cultures, for example individualistic and collectivistic cultures, may experience quite different types of stressors when attempting to gain emotional autonomy from parents. In addition, the ramications a romantic relationship has on close friendships may differ across cultures. Further, issues of commitment and closeness in the romantic partnership, as compared to individuation, may be of different concern for adolescents stemming from different countries. Finally, the sexual aspect of romantic relations may cause stress, depending on cultural norms and prescriptions. In a 20-nation study (N=15347, age 12 to 18 years), typical stressors adolescents experienced in romantic relationships depending on their cultural background were assessed (SeiffgeKrenke, 2006). Adolescents lled in questionnaires assessing recent romantic stressors. According to Brown et al. (2002), the adolescents from the 17 nations were grouped together according to regions, including Middle Europe (for example Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, England), Southern Europe (for example Greece, Italy, France, Spain) Northern Europe (for example Finland, Norway) Eastern Europe (for example, Poland, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania) Asia and the far East (for example, Pakistan, Hong Kong; Korea ) and South America (for example, Peru, Mexico). The ndings showed that romantic stress was highest among adolescents from Middle Europe, followed by Southern Europe, and that adolescents from the Far East, South America and Eastern Europe named considerably fewer romantic stressors. Feelings of jealousy and the impact of romance on close friendships were of great concern for adolescents from Middle and Southern Europe. Adolescents from South America and the Far East were mainly stressed by feeling unsure about the romantic partners feelings and by the fear of hurting their respective partner. Age differences emerged, too, illustrating that the early phases of romantic encounters were perceived as more stressful then later stages. Noteworthy, too, were gender differences, with females worrying more about the impact of the romance on their close friendships with other girls, while males were more concerned about not having a partner. Interestingly, differences depending on the marital status of the parents were also found. Adolescents from two-parent families were much more concerned about the romantic relationship than adolescents from single parent families. Considering the effect size of the ndings, the impact of the culture or region was by far the most important, followed by the impact of the family status of the adolescent. Age and gender effects were of minor importance. Taken together, the study shows that it is important to consider diversity in romantic relationships, depending on the cultural background of the adolescents. Gray and Steinberg (1999) have suggested that the stress perceived in romantic relationships is only partly related to the romantic affair as such and that its origin lies in the diverse functions romantic relationships serve for adolescents. They proposed that the development of romantic interests is inherently linked to the task of separation and individuation from the family. The emergence of romantic activity can be seen as part of a more general process in the development of emotional autonomy rst taking place in the family context and later on, as the quality of romances changes from casual to more committed, in the peer context. Apparently, as the abovementioned ndings illustrate, adolescents from different cultures
showed a different focus on the self, the impact of peers, and concern for the partner. However, a lot of research is still necessary to clarify the culture-dependent conceptions of romance, the different behavioral scripts and the cultural framework of romantic experience. Also, the developmental sequence following diverse phases which has been established for Western industrialized cultures, needs to be validated in different cross-cultural settings. It is not clear whether the typical Western sequence from more casual, short-term encounters to exclusive, long-term and bonded relationships is characteristic for adolescents living in other cultures. Thus, romantic stress may not only differ, depending on the phases of romantic development, but is inuenced by the cultural context. Linking adolescent romantic experiences to the context of their rapidly changing social world may clarify the outstanding functions of romance in adolescence as well as the specic strains a romantic relationship places on those same adolescents.
References
Brown, B.B. (1999). Youre going out with who? Peer group inuences on adolescent romantic relationships. In W. Furman, B.B. Brown, & C. Feiring, (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 291329). New York: Cambridge University Press. Brown, B.B., Larson, & Saraswathi, T.S. (2002). The worlds youth. The adolescence in eight regions of the globe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Connolly, J.A., & Goldberg, A. (1999). Romantic relationships in adolescence: The role of friends and peers in their emergence. In W. Furman, B.B. Brown, & C. Feiring, (Eds.), The development of romantic relationships in adolescence (pp. 266290). New York: Cambridge University Press. Kag tc bas , C. (1996). Family and human development across cultures. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Leaper, C., & Anderson, K.J. (1997). Gender development and heterosexual romantic relationships during adolescence. In S. Shulman & W.A. Collins (Eds.), Romantic relationships in adolescence: Developmental perspectives (pp. 85104). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Nieder, T., & Seiffge-Krenke, I. (2001). Coping with stress in different phases of romantic development. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 297311. Seiffge-Krenke, I. (2003). Testing theories of romantic development from adolescence to young adulthood: Evidence of a developmental sequence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 519531. Seiffge-Krenke, I. (2006). Nach Pisa. Stress in der Schule und mit den Eltern. Bewltigungskompetenz deutscher Jugendlicher im internationalen Vergleich. Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
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analyses will focus on interindividual differences in the amount of change in perceived attractiveness, how they can be predicted, and how they relate to satisfaction with ones decision.
A Watched Pot Never Boils? How Many Participants Does It Take to Study Relationship Formation?
A challenge that arises with the described prospective approach to studying partner choice is that participants will not necessarily date or start a committed relationship within 512 months of recruitment. Therefore, it would be helpful to have some information on the percentage of a given population who will form a romantic relationship within a dened time frame. Unfortunately, when we started the PASS Study, we had no such information available. Our strategy therefore was to recruit undergraduates between 1827 years who indicated that they were looking for a romantic partner. We assumed that undergraduates of this age group (who also were about 50% Mormon as is representative of the Salt Lake City area) would be highly motivated to date and, as part of the undergraduate experience, would have plenty of opportunities to meet new people of the opposite sex. In spite of these favorable conditions, we found that the majority of our participants were unsuccessful in forming a committed relationship during the studyand what complicates things even more, those who entered into a committed relationship did not necessarily stay in that relationship. The changes in relationship status that we observed in the PASS Study between August 2006 and August 2007 are illustrated in Figure 1. As can be seen in panel A, out of those 61 women and 64 men who indicated that they were looking for a romantic partner at the intake assessment, 30% dropped out of the study or did not provide any information on their dating life. Although we saw a fair amount of dating activity among those who remained in the study, 34% did not date at all or at least never made it past a rst date (or series of rst dates) and 10% dated casually but never entered into a committed relationship. Finally, 26% committed to partner at some point in the study. It should
be noted, however, that we studied up to four different dating partners per participant and that out of those 33 participants who committed to a romantic partner eight only did so after they had dated other partners casually. It was also interesting that 12% of the committed relationships in the PASS Study did not survive for more than six months (Figure 1, panel B). In sum, based on our experience we would suggest that researchers interested in the prospective study of romantic relationship development during young adulthood consider that only about a quarter of a given sample may actually form a longer-term committed relationship during the period of observation. In addition to recruiting large samples, researchers may want to consider other ways of increasing the chances of observing the formation of relationships. Speed-dating was recently discovered as a valuable method for studying romantic attraction (Finkel, Eastwick, & Matthews, 2007) and should also be a useful tool in studying relationship development prospectively. In our future research, we plan to include a subsample of participants in a speed-dating study and follow them up longitudinally for a year to increase the chances of observing partner selection processes. This will further increase the likelihood of having both dating partners in the sample. While we would have been interested in the perspective of both dating partners, we decided that trying to recruit their dating partners through our PASS Study participants would have created too much of an interference in these edgling relationships.
A: Out of those 125 participants who were initially not committed to a partner . . .
B: Out of those 58 participants who already were in a committed relationship or had started one . . .
2% unknown 12% broke up within 6 months
30% unknown
15% broke up after over 6 months 71% were still committed to their partner at the final assessment
10% dated casually 34% did not date/ get past 1st date
Figure 1. Changes in relationship status observed during the PASS Study: Formation (panel A) and termination (panel B) of relationships.
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the date, participants were instructed to go to our webpage and log on with an individual user-id and password to complete a partner diary on ve consecutive days. The diary was followed by weekly online assessments. In addition to allowing participants easy access to the questionnaires at their preferred time (some actually did ll out assessments at 2 am), the online questionnaires enabled us to realize an individualized schedule for every participant, include person-specic information (such as the name of their dating partners), and include a branching structure in the assessments so that only questions applicable for this participant were asked. For instance, our study included four different partner assessments (diary, weekly and monthly dating assessments, assessment for committed relationships) and an online database that contained the information about which assessment is to be displayed for each participant at his or her next login. The partner questionnaires always started by asking whether the participant is still dating a specic partner. In case the participant indicated the he or she is not dating any longer, the assessment asked about who terminated the relationship and reasons for its termination instead of how much the participant would like to commit to this partner. We found the online assessments to be a great asset to our study as they were a fast and convenient method for participants to provide responses and also saved a lot of time for data entry and correcting inevitable errors in data entries. By employing user-ids and passwords, we also made sure that only our participants had access to questionnaires. However, the downside to employing online assessments with this level of sophistication is that their development requires programming skills that researchers in psychology usually do not have. We greatly beneted from having a computer professional available in the psychology department of the University of Utah who devoted countless hours to programming our online assessments. Researchers who do not know how to program in HTML or use java script (or do not have the time to do so) would be well advised to recruit the help of someone with these programming skills before attempting to conduct a study like the PASS Study. While there are solutions for conducting online research for people without programming skills (cf. Reynolds, Woods, & Baker, 2007 for different ways of conducting online research), we doubt that it would have been possible to create a questionnaire and database structure like the one we used with these applications. Overall, we highly recommend online assessments for researchers interested in relationship development, especially when conducting research with an undergraduate population who usually have access to a computer at home and/or at school. While this makes completing assessments more convenient, however, it is still possible to miss the action when waiting for participants to contact the research team. Even though we sent monthly e-mail reminders, we still had a few participants who failed to notify us of a dating partner before the relationship was committed. In our future research, we plan to include monthly online assessments asking about all dates of the past month (even if they did not progress past a rst date) to further reduce the likelihood of participants not reporting on dating relationships.
References
Brownstein, A.L. (2003). Biased predecision processing. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 545568. Cate, R.M., & Lloyd, S.A. (1992). Courtship. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Collins, L.M., & Sayer, A.G. (Eds.) (2001). New methods for the analysis of change. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Finkel, E.J., Eastwick, P.W., & Matthews, J. (2007). Speeddating as an invaluable tool for studying romantic attraction: A methodological primer. Personal Relationships, 14, 149166. Gottman, J.M. (1994). What predicts divorce? The relationship between marital processes and marital outcomes. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Hazan, C., & Zeifman, D. (1994). Sex and the psychological tether. In K. Bartholomew & D. Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships: Vol. 5 Attachment processes in adulthood (pp. 151177). London: Kingsley. McArdle, J.J., & Nesselroade, J.R. (2003). Growth curve analysis in contemporary psychological research. In J.A. Schinka & W.F. Velicer (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Vol. 2: Research methods in psychology (pp. 447480). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Murdock, K.W., Schindler, I., Fagundes, C.P., & Diamond, L.M. (2008). Maybe it is me? How attachment style and depressive symptoms predict failed relationship initiation
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and commitment. Poster presented at the 9th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Albuquerque, February 79, 2008. Reynolds, R.A., Woods, R., & Baker, J.D. (Eds.) (2007). Handbook of research on electronic surveys and measurements. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference/IGI Global. Singer, J.D., & Willett, J.B. (2003). Applied longitudinal data analysis: Modeling change and event occurrence. New York: Oxford University Press. Surra, C.A., Gray, C.R., Cottle, N., & Boettcher, T.M.J. (2004). Research on mate selection and premarital relationships: What do we really know? In A.L. Vangelisti (Ed.), Handbook of family communication (pp. 5382). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Therefore, studies on daily life have focused on time use, reconciliation in the spousal relationship and working life, and emotional transmission between different life spheres. The spousal relationship is a central moderator in this life palette as it can either facilitate or hinder the quality of daily life. A large part of the existing knowledge of the spousal relationship has been gained through observations and questionnaires, and time frames of seconds and minutes or of months and even years have been utilized. As stated by Larson and Almeida (1999), the study of daily life links these research traditions together by lling in the missing time frame of hours and days. Observational studies may capture the micro aspects of spousal interaction, but the question of the generalizability of these results to the natural contexts of couples daily lives remains open. On the other hand, longitudinal studies (or questionnaire studies in general) may answer questions about the effects of work stress on spousal satisfaction, but leave open the question of mechanisms through which these life spheres interact with each other. Against this background, in the Palette study diaries were chosen as a tool to examine the spousal relationship from the viewpoint of everyday life. In contrast to observations and questionnaires, diaries permit the examination of day-to-day events and experiences in their natural context and enable the effects of retrospection to be minimized.
Diary method
In diary studies, the participants make frequent reports on the events and experiences of their daily lives. The idea is to study the phenomenon in question for a limited time intensively, meaning, for example, several times a day over the course of a week. The main benet is to obtain memoryunbiased, situation-specic information on daily emotions, interactions and use of time. This kind of approach offers researchers better possibilities to study causal relations and rapid changes. The diary method is well suited to marital research as it enables both members of a relationship to be studied at the same time, thus allowing their different voices to be heard. The wide variety of diary methods available differ in a number of methodological aspects, such as frequency of measurement points (ESM, daily diary approach); type of design (interval-, signal- and event-based); form of diary questions (e.g., structured, open-ended, daily check-list) and use of reporting tools (e.g., paper-and-pencil, electronic). Recently, the diary approach has been intensively developed (see reviews by Bolger, Davis, & Rafaeli, 2003; Christensen, Barrett, Bliss-Moreau, Lebo, & Kaschub, 2003; Scollon, Kim-Pieto, & Diener, 2003). One of the main areas of development concerns the tools used in diary reporting. The traditional paper-and-pencil method has been replaced or at least complemented by a range of new electronic tools and innovations such as pagers, telephones and palmtops (for more on the ongoing debate regarding paper or plastic see Green, Rafaeli, Bolger, Shrout, & Reis, 2006).
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How did we do it? The mobile diary design in the Palette study
In the Family Research Centre we have developed a diary method for the study of daily family dynamics in which traditional paper-and-pencil and a new technology, i.e. mobile phones, are used side by side. We have used and tested this format in two family studies: the Pilot study in 2003 and the Palette study in 2006. The purpose of Palette study, funded by the Academy of Finland, was to shed light on everyday family life in working families with young children. Intensive diary data covering a one-week time span was collected at the end of the year 2006. In addition, a larger number of parents (n = 204 mothers and 161 fathers in 208 families) lled in questionnaires concerning, for example, work, parenting styles and stress, the marital relationship, child well-being and temperament and day-care. The diary design involved altogether 107 families, each family consisting of parents (or stepparents) and one target child. The children were all drawn from municipal day care centres. Diary data were collected by using three types of diary: a mobile diary, a paper-and-pencil diary and a child diary. In the case of the paper-and-pencil diary, parents answered in the traditional manner the diary questions every evening, which were given in a separate booklet containing a daily check-list, questions about use of time, and four open-ended questions concerning both good and challenging situations within the family. The mobile diary study involved 42 families and included both parents (or stepparents) from the family. The design of our mobile diary was a combination of the interval- and event-based designthe reporting occurred at specic time periods in accordance with the participants working schedule (more about the mobile diary method in Rnk, Malinen, Lms, Kinnunen, & Tolvanen, 2007). In order to be able to study work-family interaction (e.g., spillover and crossover) in a relatively small sample we included in our mobile study only the families in which both parents worked in regular day shifts. The one-week diary phase began on Monday morning and ended on the following Sunday evening. The mobile diary consisted of ten questions concerning mood and interactions to be answered three times a day in the form of short text messages (SMSs) using a mobile phone. As both parents from 42 families kept mobile diaries for seven days the mobile diary data comprise a total of over 1600 SMSs (missing answers excluded). The reporting times and instructions together with the structured diary questions were given in a diary booklet. The booklet was designed to be compact in size so that it could be easily carried by the participants. The participants sent their answers, a list of 10 numbers, by SMSs. On workdays the reporting time was in the morning before going to work, in the afternoon and in the evening before going to bed. As we were using a technically based data collection tool and the answers were sent directly to the database, we were able to react immediately to the responses. The participants were told that the program would not take delivery of answers that were not sent within the agreed times. Moreover, there was no possibility to change the answers afterwards. The diary program involved several activities that gave feedback about the transmission of
answers and helped the participants to remember to answer at the xed times. They got a reminder SMSs every morning and a feedback message after a successful transmission or in the case of a mistake (for example, too many or too few numbers). The costs of using the mobile diary as a data collection tool consisted of the fee paid to the information technology rm and the costs of sending text messages (approximately 21 SMSs per person; max. 10 cents per SMS). As the participants were carrying their own mobile phones we did not have to invest in any equipment. Moreover, owing to the fact that the data went directly to the database, there were no coding costs, and coding errors were minimized.
How do women and men evaluate intimacy in their relationship? Do spouses share the same feelings?
Women and men rated intimacy in their spousal relationship at the same level. The average of all ratings was just above the middle of the scale from 1 to 7. Feelings of intimacy were highly reciprocal between the spouses, as the high between-spouses correlations showed. In Larsons and Richardss (1994) words, the realities of spouses were shared in this aspect.
Does the time of day or the day of the week make a difference?
Feelings of intimacy were higher during the weekend than on weekdays. In contrast, intimacy did not vary according to the time of day. The quality of spousal relationships seemed to rise on the weekend, a time when couples usually spend more time together and have more free time.
Is there any between-individuals variation? Do individuals always feel the same way?
Considerable mean level differences were found between individuals. For some participants the spousal relationship seemed to offer more feelings of intimacy than it did for others. On the other hand, feelings of intimacy seemed to be highly susceptible to changing circumstances, as there was considerable uctuation in the momentary intimacy scores around each individuals mean level. That is to say, intimacy in the spousal relationship is not a stable characteristic of the relationship; instead, feelings of intimacy
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Women
Men
7= Very much
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
1= Not at all
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Morning Evening
Morning Evening
Figure 1.
within a relationship are in constant ux. Our preliminary results show that feelings of intimacy as evaluated in a mobile diary every morning and evening were related, for example, to the evaluations of daily satisfaction in the spousal relationship and success in work-family reconciliation given during the same evening in the paper-andpencil diary. In addition to spousal relationships, we are currently analyzing the daily transmission of mood between work and family using the mobile. We have found, for example, that among daily work experiences and moods (e.g., happiness, efcacy, anger) stress is felt at home in a consistent way among both women and men. Even though parents were generally relatively happy and relaxed during the week, tiredness was common, especially in the evening time.
We nd many extra benets to be gained from using a mobile diary to study the spousal relationship. Sending answers about intimate feelings as SMSs increases the perception of privacy and anonymity, as it minimizes the possibility that others will see them. The mobile diary is a low threshold tool for both participants and researchers because of its familiarity and inexpensiveness. In comparison to PDAswhich are commonly used as an electronic diary toolthe mobile phone is easy to handle and no technical assistance is usually needed. Like other electronic tools, the mobile diary meets the criterion of preventing backlling. Moreover, researchers are able to check whether the participants have given their answers during the time range set (for more on backlling see Piaseccki, Hufford, Solhan, & Trull, 2007). Reminders can be given either beforehand or afterwards (if the participant has not given his/her answer in time). During the diary week we had only few minor technical problems, which did not impinge on the research in a remarkable way. We think that the main reason for the absence of technical problems is the familiarity of the mobile phone to the participants. Moreover, because our diary program was rarely incompatible with the participants mobile phones, few families had to be excluded from our sample. According to our experiences, the main limitation of the mobile diary method is the fact that owing to the SMS format the space for answers is limited. Therefore, the questions used have to be carefully designed. If more detailed information is neededas is usually the casethe mobile diary should be complemented with other methods, such as the paper-and-pencil diary and the questionnaire.
References
Bolger, N., Davis, A., & Rafaeli, E. (2003). Diary methods: Capturing life as it is lived. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 579616.
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Christensen, T.C., Barrett, L.F., Bliss-Moreau, E., Lebo, K., & Kaschub, C. (2003). A Practical guide to experiencesampling procedures. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 5378. Green, A.S., Rafaeli, E., Bolger, N., Shrout, P.E., & Reis, H.T. (2006). Paper or plastic? Data equivalence in paper and electronic diaries. Psychological Methods, 11, 87105. Larson, R.W., & Almeida, D.M. (1999). Emotional transmission in the daily lives of families: A new paradigm for studying family process. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 520. Larson, R., & Richards, M.H. (1994). Divergent realities. The emotional lives of mothers, fathers, and adolescents. BasicBooks. A Division of HaperCollinsPublishers. Laurenceau, J., & Bolger, N. (2005). Using diary methods to study marital and family processes. Journal of Family Psychology, 19, 8697. Piaseccki, T., Hufford, M.R., Solhan, M., & Trull, T. (2007). Assessing clients in their natural environments with electronic diaries: Rationale, benets, limitations, and barriers. Psychological Assessment, 19, 2543. Rnk, A., Malinen, K., Lms, T., Kinnunen, U., & Tolvanen, A. (2007). Capturing daily family dynamics via text messages: A development of a mobile diary. Manuscript submitted for publication. Scollon, C.N., Kim-Prieto, C., & Diener, E. (2003). Experience sampling: Promises and pitfalls, strengths and weaknesses. Journal of Happiness Studies, 4, 534.
The Family Research Centre The Family Research Centre is a multidisciplinary research centre which promotes and coordinates basic and applied family research and researcher training nationally and internationally. Currently the FRC is occupied in organizing the 4th international congress of the European Society on Family Relations (ESFR), which will take place 2427 September 2008 in Jyvskyl, Finland. More information about the scientic program of the congress, submission of abstracts and registration are available at: http://www.jyu./ esfr2008
Editorial
Editor Karina Weichold Correspondence address: ISSBD Newsletter Department of Developmental Psychology CADSCenter for Applied Developmental Science University of Jena Am Steiger 3/Haus 1 D-07743 Jena, Germany Email: karina.weichold@uni-jena.de Editor Bonnie L. Barber ISSBD Newsletter School of Psychology Murdoch University Perth, Western Australia 6150 Australia Email: b.barber@murdoch.edu.au Copy Editing: Lucy Hahn Murdoch University
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2009 April 24
Society for Research on Child Development Biennial Meeting (SRCD) Location: Denver, Colorado, USA Website: www.srcd.org
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