TY - JOUR
T1 - Romantic experience and psychosocial adjustment in middle adolescence
AU - Furman, Wyndol
AU - Low, Sabina
AU - Ho, Martin J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Sabina Low is now at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, and Martin Ho is now at User Centric, Chicago, Illinois. Preparation of this article was supported by Grant 50106 from the National Institute of Mental Health (W. Furman, P.I.) and Grant HD049080 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (W. Furman, P.I.). Appreciation is expressed to the Project Star staff for their contribution to the data collection and to Candice Feiring, Brett Laursen, Jessica Winkles, Meredith Jones, Christine McDunn, Pallavi Visvanathan, Hana Vujeva, Brennan Young, and the Adolescent Reading Group for their suggestions regarding the article. Thanks also go to the adolescents, families, and schools who are participating in Project STAR.
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - Concurrent and longitudinal relations between the amount of romantic experience and psychosocial adjustment were examined in a 1-year study of a community based sample of 200 tenth graders. Adolescents, parents, and friends completed measures of psychosocial adjustment. The amount of romantic experience was associated with higher reports of social acceptance, friendship competence, and romantic competence; at the same time, romantic experience also was associated with greater substance use, more delinquent behavior, and more frequent genital sexual behavior. The amount of romantic experience predicted increased substance use and genital sexual behavior over a 1-year period, whereas social acceptance predicted increased romantic experience. These relations with romantic experience were significant even when genital sexual behavior and social acceptance were taken into account, underscoring the unique contribution of romantic experiences.
AB - Concurrent and longitudinal relations between the amount of romantic experience and psychosocial adjustment were examined in a 1-year study of a community based sample of 200 tenth graders. Adolescents, parents, and friends completed measures of psychosocial adjustment. The amount of romantic experience was associated with higher reports of social acceptance, friendship competence, and romantic competence; at the same time, romantic experience also was associated with greater substance use, more delinquent behavior, and more frequent genital sexual behavior. The amount of romantic experience predicted increased substance use and genital sexual behavior over a 1-year period, whereas social acceptance predicted increased romantic experience. These relations with romantic experience were significant even when genital sexual behavior and social acceptance were taken into account, underscoring the unique contribution of romantic experiences.
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U2 - 10.1080/15374410802575347
DO - 10.1080/15374410802575347
M3 - Article
C2 - 19130359
AN - SCOPUS:61449212961
SN - 1537-4416
VL - 38
SP - 75
EP - 90
JO - Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
JF - Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
IS - 1
ER -