Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2024
Publication Title
International Journal of Adolescence and Youth
Keywords
Adolescence, romantic involvement, relationship characteristics, romantic quality
Abstract
The purpose of our study was to identify characteristics of adolescents’ romantic partnerships that are associated with the quality of those partnerships. 101 romantically involved adolescents (15 to 18 years old, 47.5% female) were recruited from Qualtrics Panel Services for an online, cross-sectional study of family and social relationships. Most adolescents had same-age and different-gender romantic partners, lived geographically close to their partners, and spent several unsupervised hours with their partners each week, had a define the partnership talk, and anticipated stability in their partnership. Partnership characteristics and quality were significantly associated. Living close to partners and seeing them often, unsupervised time with partners, and anticipated stability were positively associated with positive interactions. Longer duration partnerships, unsupervised time with partners, and having had a defining the partnership talk were positively associated with negative interactions. Finally, having a different-gender partner was associated with fewer negative interactions. Implications of our findings for adolescent relationship education are discussed.
Funding Source
The present study was funded by discretionary research funds provided to the authors from West Virginia University. This article was published Open Access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Taylor & Francis.
DOI
10.1080/02673843.2024.2443030
Recommended Citation
Beckmeyer, J. J., & Kline, G. C. (2024). Characteristics of adolescent romantic partnerships and their associations with partnership qualities. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 30(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2024.2443030
Comments
First published by International Journal of Adolescence and Youth: https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2024.2443030
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.