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College notes Adolescent Development Exam 3
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College notes Adolescent Development Exam 3
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EXAM 3WEEK 7
Session 11. (Content Lecture 10) Romantic Relationships and Sexual Development (Dubas)
Two of the final social-relational tasks that adolescents face prior to young adulthood include establishing a sexual identity and
gaining experience with sexual and romantic relationships. While aspects of this process are relatively smooth for many youth,
some have more challenging experiences. The lectures will focus on (1) the positive and risk perspective on studying
adolescent romantic and sexual relationships, (2) the developmental course of romantic relationships during adolescence, (3)
sexual interest and identity development (including sexual minority youth development), and (4) the role of individual
characteristics (such as pubertal development and personality) and contextual variables (such as the media, school climate,
sexual education) in relation to adolescent sexual development. I will highlight the issues in (4) drawing from research that I and
others have been involved with in project STARS (Studies on Trajectories of Adolescent Relationships and Sexuality in the
Netherlands) and other studies conducted on Dutch youth.
Required Readings
Textbook Chapters 10 & 11
van Ouytsel, J., Walrave, M., & Ponnet, K. (2019). Sexting within adolescents’ romantic relationships: How is it related
to perceptions of love and verbal conflict? Computers in Human Behavior, 97, 216-221.
LOVE AND SEX
1. Adolescent Romance: Setting the stage & definitions
2. Research on Early Dating and Casual Sex
3. Theoretical perspectives
4. Research on Sexting
5. Sex in The Netherlands
1. ADOLESCENT ROMANCE
• Daydreaming about the person in front of you in class with whom you have never spoken
• Claims to have a boyfriend, but denied by the boy
• Talk on phone everyday (or texting), but never seen in public together for fear of being ridiculed
• Going together but only spend time together with other members of their crowd
• Going steady for 3 years (the “real” thing)
• Fantasies to interactions to relationships = romantic experiences
ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP
• Romantic Relationship = mutually acknowledged ongoing voluntary interactions.
• Compared to other peer relationships, romantic ones typically have a distinctive intensity, commonly marked by
expressions of affection and current or anticipated sexual behavior.
• Applies to same-gender, as well as mixed-gender, relationships.
ROMANTIC EXPERIENCES
• Refers to activities and processes that include romantic relationships and also behavioral, cognitive, and emotional
phenomena that do not involve direct experiences with a romantic partner.
• Includes:
o Fantasies and one-sided attractions (“crushes”),
o Interactions with potential romantic partners (including flirting) and
o Brief, nonromantic sexual encounters (e.g., “hooking up,” or casual involvement in activities usually thought
to take place with romantic partners, from “making out” to intercourse)
ADOLESCENT ROMANCE
• Romantic relationships support the development of interpersonal skills, and promote a sense of identity.
• Experiment with romantic relations
o May facilitate healthy relations in adulthood.
• Opportunities to gain skills in the expression and regulation of emotions, empathy and intimacy.
DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRESSION OF ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL INTEREST AND BEHAVIOR
• 8-11 (Pre and early puberty) adrenarche
o First crush, Sexual attraction, Sexual arousal, More awareness of social rules
• 12-17 Mid and late puberty
o Gender intensification
Gender binary, Conformity increases and then subsides
o Romantic relationships
Duration longer, More intense, Some life-long partners
o Sexual Experiences increase
INTIMACY AS AN ADOLESCENT ISSUE
• Not until adolescence do truly intimate relationships first emerge
• Characteristics of true intimacy:
o Openness, honesty, self-disclosure, and trust
• Intimacy becomes an important concern due to changes of
o Puberty
o Cognitive changes
o Social changes
1
,WHAT IS INTIMACY?
• Intimacy involves a relationship where two or more people reveal personal thoughts and information about each other.
• Comfortable revealing themselves in an intimate relationship
o Feel comfort and support from the other person
• Physical closeness usually comes along with intimacy.
o Hugging and touching
HOW DOES INTIMACY DEVELOP IN ADOLESCENT FRIENDSHIPS? (1)
• Intimate friendships are defined as "the ability to share one's thoughts and feelings with a friend“ (Berndt & Williams,
1990, p. 278).
• Intimate friendships become more common in adolescence
o Feel it is safer to reveal things to their friends.
• Adolescents seek approval from adults,
o Therefore, less inclined to reveal things
o Fear being looked upon as childish
• Adolescents look for intimate relationships with other adolescents
o Feel that others their own age are going through similar experiences
o And will be able to relate (Cole & Cole, 1993).
HOW DOES INTIMACY DEVELOP IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS?
• Intimacy in a romantic relationship differs from a friendship because of the added sexual interest
• Emotional intimacy increases with age and experience with relationships, first romantic relationships have very little
intimacy
• Adolescents learn how to express and deal with their sexual identities by discussions with their friends.
DATING
• Date = A social engagement between young people with no commitment beyond the expectation that it is fun for both.
• Factors related to dating frequency
o Liked by peers
o Large number of close other-sex friends larger network of other-sex members increased likelihood of
romantic relations
o Age (older more)
DATING RELATIONSHIPS
• Serve many purposes, besides developing intimacy
o Establishing emotional and behavioral autonomy from parents
o Furthering development of gender identity
o Learning about oneself as a romantic partner (self concept)
o Establishing/maintaining status and popularity in peer group
PREVALENCE
• Romantic relationships are very common, in the past 18 months
o 25% of 12-year-olds reported having one
o 50% of 15-year-olds
o 70% of 18-year-olds, 80% ever
NOT TRIVIAL
• Early adolescence (25% daters)
o 80% thought of themselves as a couple
o Of these, 67% had told each other they loved each other (Carver et al., 2003)
• Late adolescence (80% daters)
o By age 18, average length of relationship 9.5 months
2. BUT CAN DATING TOO YOUNG LEAD TO PROBLEMS? IS IT AGE OR THE PEER GROUP?
• Norms for dating:
o Descriptive norms: what others do
o Injunctive norms: what others approve of / desire
DOWNSIDE OF EARLY ADOLESCENT ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
• Links to depression (Compas et al., 1998; Welsj, Grello, & Harper, 2003)
• Negative association to academics (Brendgen, Vitaro, et al., 2002)
• Risk for aggression
o Attraction to aggressive peers increases in middle school
o Early adolescent romantic rel = higher risk of partner violence
o Bullies date earlier and report more aggression (Connolly, Pepler et al 2000)
PROGRESSION OF SOCIAL, ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL EVENTS DURING ADOLESCENCE (O’SULLIVAN ET AL. 2007)
N=7781 12-21 YEAR OLDS 35% NO RELATIONSHIP IN ORIGINAL SAMPLE
2
,UNCOMMITTED DATING & HOOKING UP
• Characterized by casual sex, though term includes many other types of
sexual encounters
• 28% of urban secondary students in any form of hook up in 2009
(associated with drug use, truancy and school suspensions)
• Hook-ups involving sexual intercourse 62% between friends & 23%
acquaintances
PERCENT REPORTING RECENT CASUAL SEX BY AGE IN THE LAST 12/24
MONTHS, HAVE YOU HAD VAGINAL SEX WITH SOMEONE THAT YOU
WEREN’T REALLY DATING OR GOING OUT WITH?’’
• 21/22 year 50% males casual sex & 30% females casual sex
NUMBER OF CASUAL SEX PARTNERS BY AGE IN THE LAST 12/24 MONTHS,
HOW MANY DIFFERENT GIRLS/GUYS HAVE YOU HAD VAGINAL SEX WITH
THAT YOU WEREN’T REALLY DATING OR GOING OUT WITH?’’
(LYONSETAL.,2015) OHIO, USA N=1196 DATACOLLECTED IN 2000
• 20/21 year 4 partners males & 2,5 partners females
PREDICTORS OF CASUAL SEX
• Perceptions of peers sexual activity (weaker for females)
• Alcohol use
• Number of prior dating partners
• Enrollment in higher education (-), but changes
• Not significant/associated Peers attitudes, Drug use to get high,
Parental relationship quality, Full time employment
SIGNIFICANCE OF ROMANTIC EXPERIENCES
• Benefits
o Intimacy, Identity, Relatedness, Autonomy, Social competence, Positive self esteem
• Risks
o Teen pregnancy, STDs, Sexual victimization (50- 67%), 25% victims of dating violence or aggression,
Breakups (Depression, Multiple-victim killings, Suicide)
3. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
1. Biosocial perspectives (evolution) developmental
2. Interpersonal perspectives developmental
a. Attachment theory
b. Other: Psychoanalytic/psychosocial stage theories
1. Sullivan (psychoanalytic)
2. Erikson (psychoanalytic)
3. Brown (psychosocial)
3. Ecological theories developmental
4. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory (nondevelopmental)
1. BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVES - DEVELOPMENTAL
• Emphasize the interactions between biological changes and the (social) context
• Primary theory: evolutionary psychology.
o Changes in social relationships that enhance reproductive fitness should co-occur with attaining
reproductive capability.
o Reproductive fitness = number of copies of one’s genes passed on to future generations
o Developmental Evolutionary Attachment Model
REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES AND PUBERTAL DEVELOPMENT
• Evolved to maximize inclusive fitness
• Inclusive fitness = number of copies of one’s genes passed on
through one’s offspring, surviving collateral kin, or unrelated others
• Parenting is one means of increasing fitness
REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES
DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTIONARY ATTACHMENT MODEL (BELSKY,
STEINBERG, DRAPER, 1991)
3
, Studies of both human and nonhuman adolescents suggest that reproductive maturation may be inhibited by physical closeness
to parents and accelerated by distance from them, which would minimize inbreeding and thereby increase reproductive fitness.
Most research in this area focuses on mate selection and mating preferences
A related line of research involves examining neurotransmitters such as oxytocin and vasopressin in relation to the behavioral
features of adolescent sexuality and romantic relationships (Reis et al. 2000). Behavioral genetics has not yet been used to
inform research on behaviors peculiar to early sexual activity or romantic relationships (Collins & Steinberg 2006). Evolutionary
perspectives have guided a significant amount of research on adult romantic relationships (Buss 2005), but the application to
adolescent romantic relationships has primarily consisted of theoretical papers (e.g., Laursen & Jensen-Campbell 1999).
2. INTERPERSONAL PERSPECTIVES - DEVELOPMENTAL
• Interpersonal perspectives emphasize the nature and processes of changes in adolescents' social relationships and
the contribution of these changes to individual development.
• In interdependence models, joint patterns of actions, cognitions, and emotions between two individuals are the
primary locus of interpersonal influences
• Attachment theory primary theory (but psychoanalytic and other theories take an interpersonal approach)
• During adolescence, interdependencies in family relationships continue, though often in different forms than in earlier
life, and interdependencies with friends and romantic partners become more apparent (Collins 2003). Research
inspired by interdependence views typically focuses on the aspects of couple interactions that may favor stability or
change in romantic relationships.
2A. ATTACHMENT THEORY
• A history of sensitive, responsive interactions and strong emotional bonds with caregivers in childhood facilitates
adaptation to the transitions of adolescence.
• Mature romantic attachments require the cognitive and emotional maturity to integrate attachment, caregiving, and
sexual/reproductive components.
• The process begins with a redistribution of attachment-related functions (for example, a desire for proximity, relying
on the other person for unconditional acceptance) to friends and boyfriends or girlfriends.
• Although the necessary maturity level rarely is achieved before late adolescence, the developmental process begins
earlier with a redistribution of attachment-related functions (for example, a desire for proximity, relying on the other
person for unconditional acceptance) to friends and boyfriends or girlfriends
REPRESENTATIONS OF RELATIONSHIP - HIERARCHICAL MODEL OF RELATIONAL VIEWS
• Individuals form representations of
o Close relationships in general
o Types of close relationships (parents, friends, romantic partners)
o Particular relationships
• Relational views
o Includes all behavioral systems (not just internal model of attachment)
o Attachment (central to views of parent-child relation until early adulthood)
o Caregiving (friendship, parent-child)
o Sexual/reproduction (romantic relation)
o Affiliation (central in friendship)
• Mature adult romantic relationships integrate all 4
• Includes both
o Working models (internally, partially nonconscious representations) and
o Relational styles (overt, conscious
representations)
ATTACHMENT STYLES
• According to attachment theory and research, there are
two fundamental ways in which people differ from one
another in the way they think about relationships. First,
some people are more anxious than others. People who
are high in attachment-related anxiety tend to worry
about whether their partners really love them and often
fear rejection. People low on this dimension are much
less worried about such matters. Second, some people
are more avoidant than others. People who are high
in attachment-related avoidance are less comfortable
depending on others and opening up to others.
HIERARCHICAL MODEL OF RELATIONAL VIEWS
• Adult Romantic Attachment Styles and Beh. Systems
• Secure base (attachment behaviors)
o Secure – cope with stress by seeking social support
o Anxious-avoidant – withdraw with stress
o Anxious-ambivalent (preoccupied) – preoccupied with partner’s responsiveness
• Caregiving
o Secure – show more emotional support, reassurance & concern
o Anxious-avoidant – show less emotional support, reassurance & concern
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