Institut für Psychologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany.
J Youth Adolesc. 2021 Mar;50(3):550-562. doi: 10.1007/s10964-020-01350-7. Epub 2020 Nov 16.
Engaging in a romantic relationship is a key developmental task of adolescence and adolescents differ greatly in both the age at which they start dating and in how romantically active they are. These differences in romantic relationship experiences could be relevant for adolescents' short- and long-term psychosocial adjustment. The present study describes the diversity of relationship experiences during adolescence and examines their connection to psychosocial adjustment in adolescence and young adulthood. N = 2457 adolescents (49.3% female) from a German representative longitudinal study provided information on their relationship experiences between the ages 10 and 20, as well as on their psychosocial adjustment. Data were collected via annual assessments starting in 2008 at age M = 16.50 years (SD = 0.88) through young adulthood (M = 25.46, SD = 0.87). Latent profile analysis identified three romantic involvement groups: late starters, moderate daters, and frequent changers, which were further compared to adolescents without any romantic experiences (continuous singles). Growth curve analyses indicated that continuous singles reported lower life satisfaction and higher loneliness than the moderate daters in adolescence and young adulthood. The continuous singles were also less satisfied with their life in young adulthood and felt more lonely in both adolescence and young adulthood compared to the late starters. The findings of the study suggest great variability in adolescents' romantic relationship experiences and point toward the developmental significance of these experiences for short- and long-term well-being.
谈恋爱是青少年发展的关键任务之一，青少年在开始约会的年龄和恋爱活跃度上存在很大差异。这些恋爱经历的差异可能与青少年的短期和长期心理社会适应有关。本研究描述了青少年时期恋爱经历的多样性，并探讨了它们与青少年和青年时期心理社会适应的关系。本研究采用德国具有代表性的纵向研究，共 2457 名青少年（49.3%为女性），在 10 至 20 岁期间报告了他们的恋爱经历，以及他们的心理社会适应情况。数据通过年度评估收集，从 2008 年开始，参与者年龄为 M=16.50 岁（SD=0.88），一直持续到青年期（M=25.46 岁，SD=0.87）。潜在剖面分析确定了三种恋爱参与群体：晚起步者、中等约会者和频繁换对象者，然后将这些群体与没有任何恋爱经历的青少年（持续单身者）进行比较。增长曲线分析表明，在青少年和青年期，持续单身者的生活满意度低于中等约会者，孤独感高于中等约会者。与晚起步者相比，持续单身者在青年期的生活满意度也较低，在青少年和青年期都感到更孤独。研究结果表明，青少年的恋爱经历存在很大的差异，并指出这些经历对短期和长期幸福感具有重要意义。
