Romantic Involvement and Psychosocial Adjustment During Adolescence

Abstract

This study examines associations between different aspects of romantic involvement and psychosocial adjustment during adolescence. Nine hundred and one youths (432 boys, 469 girls) between 12 and 17 years of age, all indicating having been involved in at least one romantic relationship, answered questionnaires measuring ten parameters of romantic involvement (interest, age at the time of the first romance, average age of the partners, number of romantic relationships, number of broken hearts, average duration of relationships, duration of a recent, more significant relationship, time spent each week outside of school in this relationship, current romantic status, sexually active or not) and four indices of psychosocial adjustment (performance at school, body image, self-esteem, behavioural problems). The results suggest that it is possible to accurately predict poorer performance at school based on stronger romantic involvement, more significantly so for younger youths (ages 12 to 14) than older youths (ages 15 to 17). Body image and self-esteem are positively and significantly related to greater involvement in romantic relationships, and boys differ from girls in terms of parameters predicting self-esteem. Finally, behavioural problems are significantly associated with greater romantic involvement at all ages. The strength of association between variables ranges from weak to moderate, depending on age and gender (r ranging between 0,13 and 0,40) and the regression equations account for a generally modest portion of the total variance (6,3% to 11,7%). Differences attributable to age and gender refer to interaction effects concerning few parameters only. The results obtained are discussed in the context of psychosocial development in adolescence.