Elsevier

Children and Youth Services Review

Volume 96, January 2019, Pages 108-117
Children and Youth Services Review

Romantic involvement and adolescents' academic and psychosocial functioning in Chinese societies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.036Get rights and content

Highlights

.

  • Chinese adolescents' romantic involvement relates to lower academic performance; currently single adolescents with past dating experiences showed increased depressive symptoms;

  • Boys with past dating experience showed higher self-esteem than currently dating or never-dated boys, whereas single girls with past dating experience showed lower self-esteem than currently dating or never-dated girls;

  • Among adolescents with dating experiences, early dating onset, over-dating and sexual engagement relate to lower academic performance and self-esteem;

  • Breakup experiences relate to lower grades and heightened depressive mood, albeit only temporarily

Abstract

This study explores the effects of romantic involvement and dating behaviors on adolescent academic and psychosocial functioning in Chinese societies, where adolescent dating is generally discouraged and believed to generate adverse outcomes. Adolescents (male = 48.6%; MeanAge = 15.20 years) from Taiwan (N = 1081) and mainland China (N = 684) were recruited through stratified sampling to complete self-report surveys on their academic performance, depressive symptoms, self-esteem, relationship status, and gender-role beliefs. Adolescents with current or past dating experiences were also asked about specific dating behaviors, such as the onset of dating, number of relationships, and breakup experiences. Approximately one-third of Chinese adolescents surveyed (34.2%) have past or ongoing dating experience, who showed poorer academic performance compared to never-dated teens. In the full sample, single adolescents with past dating experiences reported greater depressive symptoms than those currently dating or never-dated teens. Boys with past dating experience showed higher self-esteem than their currently dating or never-dated peers, whereas single girls with past dating experience showed lower self-esteem than their currently dating or never-dated counterparts. Among adolescents with dating experience, early dating, over-dating, sexual activities, and breakup experiences can undermine their academic and psychosocial well-being. These findings have significant implications for practice and policy regarding adolescent education and mental health.

Introduction

Adolescent romance has been a classic theme of literature and art across cultures. While attraction, dating, and love have been the focus of scholarly study for the past 50 years (e.g. Berscheid & Walster, 1969; Byrne, 1971), much of the early work focused on college students, who are considered adolescents by developmental psychologists, but who operate more like young adults than younger adolescents still navigating home, school and peer encounters. Systematic inquiries into the nature, content, and consequences of younger adolescent (e.g., ages 13–18) romance began in the 1990s; adolescent romance has since been integrated into general theories of human development (Collins et al., 2009, Furman et al., 1999, Furman and Shaffer, 2003). Recently, a growing number of studies have established links between adolescent romance and other developmental contexts such as family and peer relationships (Beyers & Seiffge-Krenke, 2007; Connolly, Craig, Goldberg, & Pepler, 1999; Gray & Steinberg, 1999), as well as developmental outcomes such as depression, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, and interpersonal violence (Davila, 2008; Smith, White, & Holland, 2003).

Despite the rapid progress, research on adolescent romance is heavily focused on middle-class Euro-American teenagers. The rich documentation of the diverse relationship forms, courtship rituals, and romantic ideals in different cultures, however, confirm the necessity of a multicultural perspective on the study of adolescent romance (Coates, 1999; Dion & Dion, 1996; East, 1998; Zimmer-Gembeck & Helfand, 2008). The current study thus aims to depict the romantic involvement of Chinese adolescents and explore how adolescent romantic involvement and dating behaviors are associated with academic and socioemotional functioning.

The various aspects of romantic involvement, such as relationship status, dating onset, the number and length of romantic relationships, and incidents of breakups (Collins, 2003), present adolescents with both growth opportunities and challenges during their formative years (Collins et al., 2009; Furman, Ho, & Low, 2007; Smith et al., 2003), especially in the emergence of psychopathology, self and identity development, and academic performance.

For adolescents, unrealized romantic yearning, conflicts, and violence in a relationship, or the termination of a partnership can be challenging at best and severely upsetting at worst. Extant literature has consistently found that adolescents' romantic involvement relates to a broad range of negative outcomes (Starr et al., 2012; Zimmer-Gembeck & Siebenbruner, 2001), especially depressive symptoms (Davila, 2008), concurrently and longitudinally (Davila, Steinberg, Kachadourian, Cobb, & Fincham, 2004) particularly for adolescents with a pre-occupied relational style. Dating teenagers, especially girls, demonstrate higher depressive symptoms than their non-dating counterparts during early and middle adolescence (Natsuaki, Biehl, & Ge, 2009). Romantic involvement can act as a predictor of depressive symptoms for teenagers (Davila et al., 2009) and breakups, in particular, may trigger pathological symptoms, such as the onset of depression (Maciejewski, Prigerson, & Mazure, 2001; Monroe, Rohde, Seeley, & Lewinsohn, 1999). Moreover, the presence and quality of breakups are related to increased episodic and chronic depressive symptoms, especially among girls who are interpersonally sensitive (Rizzo, Daley, & Gunderson, 2006). Furthermore, romantic breakups can alter the content of late adolescents' self-concept and affect their academic performance (Field, Diego, Pelaez, Deeds, & Delgado, 2012; Slotter, Gardner, & Finkel, 2010). Taken together, these studies provide evidence that romantic involvement and breakups can affect adolescents' emotional well-being.

Adolescence is a key stage for developing self and identity (Erikson, 1968). So far, the findings on the relationship between adolescent dating and self-concepts are mixed: some studies found dating associated with higher self-esteem (Samet & Kelly, 1987); others found a negative correlation between dating and self-esteem (McDonald & McKinney, 1994); and still others found no significant association between dating and global self-esteem (Quatman, Sampson, Robinson, & Watson, 2001). Steadily dating adolescents felt more secure about their peer relationship and have higher personal and psychological safety on the one hand, and suffered a decrease in self-esteem related to their academic achievement on the other hand (Quatman et al., 2001). Similarly, Zimmer-Gembeck and Siebenbruner's (2001) longitudinal study found that the quality of a romantic relationship was positively associated with adolescents' self-perceptions of social acceptance and romantic appeal. Therefore, romantic involvement is associated with self-concept in specific areas, but the relationship between romantic involvement and overall self-esteem remains unclear.

Given that adolescence is a time for career preparation, romantic involvement might distract adolescents from school work or interfere with their academic performance due to emotional fluctuations or the spillover of negative affect. Quatman et al. (2001) found that adolescents who date twice or more per week showed lower academic performance than less frequent daters. Orpinas, Horne, Song, Reeves, and Hsieh (2013) followed adolescents from the sixth to the twelfth grade and found that, compared to non-dating teenagers or those who started dating later, those with early dating experiences (at Grade 6) and those who dated throughout secondary school (Grades 6 to 12) had poorer study skills and higher drop-out rate, among other problem behaviors. However, the association between romantic involvement and academic performance might be bidirectional: teenagers with poor grades might resort to romantic relationship to escape undesirable achievements, which further distracts them from school work. Zimmer-Gembeck and Siebenbruner (2001) followed adolescents from 12 to 16 years of age and found that adolescents who were over-dating (seeing many people in the past year) at age 16 had greater declines of academic performance and motivation over time.

Specific dating behaviors, such as dating onset, over-dating, and sexual activities, influence adolescent development beyond romantic status (Barber & Eccles, 2008). Timing matters; dating in early adolescence (before 14 years of age) has been speculated to bear bitter fruit due to the non-normative and unstable nature of romantic relationships before middle adolescence (Collins, 2003; Smetana, Campione-Barr, & Metzger, 2006). Early onset of dating was indeed associated with poorer academic performance, lower self-esteem, greater depressive symptoms, and more alcohol and substance abuse (Carver, Joyner, & Udry, 2003; Compian & Hayward, 2004; Smetana et al., 2006). Neemann, Hubbard, and Masten (1995) in their ten-year longitudinal study, compared the influence of romantic involvement among early, middle, and late daters, and found that dating in late childhood and early adolescence predicted poorer academic and job competence, and more conduct problems. However, such negative impact was less prominent and even absent among teenagers who started dating during middle or late adolescence. Over-dating, or having many relationships, could signify poor relationship quality or adolescents' failure to enter committed, dyadic relationships (Davis & Windle, 2000). Over-dating might be both a reaction to challenges in other domains of life and a precursor for later maladjustments (Zimmer-Gembeck & Siebenbruner, 2001). Similarly, Davies and Windle (2000) found that adolescents who shifted from steady dating to casual dating with multiple partners exhibited more problem behaviors than those remaining in steady relationships, or retreating from steady relationships to casual dating with a single partner. However, it was not clear whether the adverse effect came from the casual nature of the relationship or the number of dating partners.

Sexual activities, especially those in early adolescence, have been considered risky behavior leading to poorer academic performance or a correlate of other delinquencies (Bingham & Crockett, 1996; Davila et al., 2009; Frisco, 2008; James, Ellis, Schlomer, & Garber, 2012; Whitbeck, Yoder, Hoyt, & Conger, 1999). However, recent research argues that romantic involvement offers adolescents the opportunity for sexual exploration, which can be a valuable resource for normative sexual development (Florscheim, 2008; Russell, 2005; Tolman & McClelland, 2011). The onset of sexual activities per se may not be detrimental and can even be beneficial if it fits the group norms (Vrangalova & Savin-Williams, 2011).

Boys and girls experience different physical changes during adolescence (Crick & Zahn-Waxler, 2003; James et al., 2012; Natsuaki et al., 2009) and are socialized to have different understanding, feelings, and behavioral norms during romantic involvement (Moore, 1998). Boys were found to begin dating and having sex earlier than girls (Regan, Durvasula, Howell, Ureño, & Rea, 2004; Zimmer-Gembeck & Helfand, 2008), have greater power and influence over romantic partners, yet feel less confident than girls in navigating romantic relationships (Giordano, Longmore, & Manning, 2006). Girls, on the other hand, are more strongly influenced by their romantic experiences (Joyner & Udry, 2000; Natsuaki et al., 2009), possibly due to girls' greater emphasis on interpersonal relationships during adolescence (Feiring, 1996; Rizzo et al., 2006). In addition to biological sex, processes of sociocultural gendering will influence the formation of self-esteem and self-competence in adolescence (Basow & Rubin, 1999). Moreover, adolescents' traditional gender-role beliefs have been found to relate to problem dating behaviors such as dating violence, which might further lead to psychosocial maladjustment (Shen, 2014; Shen, Chiu, & Gao, 2012). In summary, these findings suggest that research on adolescent romantic involvement should consider possible idiosyncratic pathways of influence for male and female teenagers.

Chinese adolescents have been largely absent in the literature on adolescent romance, although they comprise a significant proportion of the world's youth (United Nations Children's Fund, 20161) and can offer valuable information on adolescent romance given their unique cultural and social backgrounds. Historical and ethnographic studies have identified cultural and contextual factors pertaining to adolescent romantic involvement in Chinese societies, such as romantic values, the parent-child relationship, and academic competition. Chinese culture embeds romantic relationship in the larger frame of family lineage, and adolescents in traditional China entered arranged marriage with partners chosen by family seniors to extend patrilineal family lines instead of realizing individual romantic goals (Riley, 1994). While such values have been challenged since the early 20th century (Xu & Whyte, 1990), the utilitarian view of romance as a precursor leading to marriage and childbearing persists (Blair & Madigan, 2016; Liu, Fuller, Hutton, & Grant, 2018), and Chinese parents remain heavily involved in their children's love lives (Sun, 2012). In addition, Chinese parents and teachers typically hold conservative values towards sex, resulting in a lack of access to comprehensive sex education among Chinese adolescents (Cui, Li, & Gao, 2001).

For today's urban Chinese youth, romantic involvement is frowned upon not only because of conservative romantic values but also due to the fierce academic competition (Zhao, 2015). The high school entrance examination (at the end of Year 9 in mainland China and Taiwan) and college entrance examination (at the end of Year 12 in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong) are decisive examinations for Chinese youth. Extant studies suggest that mainland Chinese and Taiwanese adolescents spend a long time on academic work and are under high academic stress (Chen & Lu, 2009; Fuligni & Stevenson, 1995; Liu & Lu, 2011; Sun, Dunne, & Hou, 2012). As a result, romance is seen as a distraction and is often forcefully terminated by anxious parents and teachers.

A few empirical studies have provided evidence on the quantity, quality, and developmental significance of adolescent dating in Chinese populations. Cross-cultural studies consistently find that Chinese youth are less romantically involved, date later and less frequently, and have more conservative sexual values than their western counterparts (Kaufman, Poston Jr, Hirschl, & Stycos, 1996; Li, Connolly, Jiang, Pepler, & Craig, 2010; Moore & Leung, 2001; Tang & Zuo, 2000). A recent study by Chang, Hayter, and Lin (2014) shows a similarly cautious attitude towards premarital sex among Taiwanese adolescents. Yet other studies indicate that Chinese teenagers, like those elsewhere, are curious about dating and have greater approval of adolescent romance than their parents do: A recent survey in Zhejiang, Southeast China, suggests that approximately half of primary and secondary school students feel “neutral” or “approval” of secondary school students engaging in romantic relationship (Li et al., 2017). Liu et al. (2018) also found that in a northern Chinese city that adolescents perceive romance and dating positively. Meanwhile, Chen et al. (2009) surveyed a large, stratified sample of secondary school students in Beijing and found that romantic involvement in early adolescence was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms and behavior problems, compared to their non-dating peers. Hou et al. (2013) used multi-local survey data and found that romantic involvement and breakup were associated with externalizing and internalizing problems, especially in classrooms where dating was non-normative. Several studies in Taiwan have demonstrated that the dissolution of a romantic relationship is among life's most stressful and painful experiences, and may affect late adolescents' academic performance, mental health and sense of self-identity (e.g., Li, 1996, Wang and Wang, 2007). These findings painted a mixed picture of Chinese adolescents' romantic experiences, demonstrating both cultural particularities and universality in developmental mechanisms: Chinese adolescents are similar to their counterparts in other parts of the world in their motivation to engage in romantic relationships and the mechanism through which romantic involvement influences their development; at the same time, Chinese teens face culturally and socially specific constraints that prevent them from freely exploring the world of romance.

Extant scholarship on the prevalence and developmental impact of romantic involvement among Chinese adolescents is still scant. To our knowledge, no study so far has explored the association between romantic involvement and academic performance among Chinese adolescents, despite this being the parents' and teachers' major concern. The present study thus aims to examine academic and psychosocial correlates of romantic involvement among Chinese adolescents using a two-site sample (Taiwan and Shanghai), by comparing dating and non-dating teenagers on their academic and psychosocial functioning, and investigating the influences of specific dating behaviors, such as dating onset, number of partners, sexual activities, and breakups.

Based on extant literature, we expect to see a relatively low prevalence of romantic involvement among Chinese adolescents. We also hypothesize that romantic involvement, given its non-normativity, will be associated with adolescent maladjustments such as worse academic performance, lower self-esteem, and higher depressive mood. Moreover, we hypothesize that adolescents with early dating onset, having many relationships, engaging in sexual behavior, and having breakups, will show compromised outcomes, namely lower grades and self-esteem as well as elevated depressive mood.

Section snippets

Participants and procedures

Participants of the present study are part of a larger survey on youth dating violence, approved and funded by the National Science Council of Taiwan. This larger sample consists of 3138 adolescents of Grade Eight through Twelve recruited from Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong through a two-step stratified random sampling procedure (first stratified by school, and then by class). Forty-two out of 53 (79.2%) schools contacted agreed to participate, including 13 schools in Shanghai, 18 schools in

Dating experiences

The descriptive statistics of all variables are presented in Table 1 and bivariate correlation of the continuous variables are presented in Table 2. Approximately one-third of the Chinese adolescents (34.2%) have been romantically involved, with the average dating onset at around 13.50 years (SD = 1.30), although very few had sexual experiences (6.5%) or had been over-dating (having had four or more relationships: 10.9%). 40.8% of the adolescents have not experienced a relationship breakup so

Discussion

In this study, we explored the developmental correlates of adolescent dating in a two-site sample (Taiwan and Shanghai) to examine the effects of romantic involvement on academic performance and psychosocial functioning among Chinese adolescents. To better illustrate the influence of dating, we also analyzed the association between specific dating behaviors and adolescent outcomes in a subsample of adolescents with dating experience.

Our data revealed a substantial proportion of current or past

Funding

This research project was approved and funded by the National Science Council of Taiwan (project number: NSC 96-2412-H-002-009).

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