04-05-2018 | Original Paper
Patterns of Adolescents’ Romantic Activities: Associations with Psychosocial Adjustment
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Child and Family Studies | Uitgave 8/2018
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Using data on 15 year-old adolescents’ (N = 770) romantic socializing, dating, and romantic relationships, we identified four clusters of romantic involvement: abstaining (9.2% of adolescents), socializing with relationships (20.3% of adolescents), socializing with dating (20.8% of adolescents), and socializing (49.7% of adolescents). We then tested if depressive symptoms, externalizing behavior, or social dissatisfaction differed between adolescents in the different romantic involvement clusters. Externalizing behavior and social dissatisfaction, but not depressive symptoms, differed between the clusters. Adolescents in the abstaining or socializing clusters reported less externalizing behavior than those in the other two clusters. Adolescents in the abstaining cluster reported greater social dissatisfaction than those in the other three clusters, which did not differ from each other. Finally, we found that gender did not moderate the associations between youths’ pattern of romantic involvement and their psychosocial adjustment.