Romantic Relationships among Adolescents

Romantic Relationships among Adolescents
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Romantic Relationships among Adolescents
A romantic relationship is one of the critical life aspects among adolescents. Notably, adolescence and emerging adulthood are stages in, which romantic relationships play a fundamental role in development. However, such relationships can be a source of enhanced wellbeing or adverse outcomes. During adolescence, romance is based on the increased likelihood of cohabitation and marriage. Therefore, most adolescents are likely to value romantic relationships. Based on an evolutionary point of view, emerging adulthood and adolescence are vital in expediting romantic relationships. Unlike other relationships such as friendship, romantic relationships have specific expressions of affection and initiation of erotic social encounters. Romantic relationships are frequent during the adolescent stage, resulting in positive outcomes, such as enhanced well-being, higher self-esteem, and adulthood development.
According to research findings, most boys and girls are involved in at least one romantic relationship by middle adolescence stage. As they approach adulthood, they devote more time to their romantic partners as they are less involved in schooling. In most instances, young adults use romantic relationships in search of intimacy, emotional security, company, and love feelings until they decide to proceed to a long-term commitment, such as marriage (Birnbaum & Reis, 2019). According to developmental task theorists, any form of romantic involvement is a developmental task that is likely to become a salient during later stage of adulthood. Romantic experiences play a critical role in facilitating identity development, close relationships with peers, career planning, and sexuality development. Therefore, romantic relationships play such a significant role in people’s lives, especially among adolescents.
Literature Review
Romantic relationships and experiences are imperative sources of emotional bonding that facilitate the development of social integration among young adults. A successful establishment and maintenance of romantic relationships among the group can have impacts in later stages of life. For instance, the relationship is likely to enhance people’s physical and mental health. Therefore, a romantic relationship makes a significant contribution to an individual’s overall wellbeing. From such a perspective, adolescents ought to recognize romantic relationships as constitutes of a substantial transformation of attachment bonds. According to Gomez-Lopez et al. (2019), the history of shared experiences, attachment sense, and beliefs from romantic experiences are factors that modulate partners’ wellbeing. Love is a significant aspect of personal happiness that has a close connection to life satisfaction, safety, self-esteem, and relational goals. However, romantic relationships can result in adverse outcomes, such as depression, delinquency, or even poor psychosocial functioning.
Communication and conflict resolution are the major variables that have a significant impact on people’s wellbeing. For instance, positive feedback and disclosure of sexual issues are aspects that partners can discuss to enhance their relationships and resolve any problems that arise in their relationship. According to Gomez-Lopez et al. (2019), positive impacts in conflict situations predict satisfaction and stability in romantic relationships. Research findings reveal that dyadic sympathy and self-compassion are variables that have a positive effect on such relationships. As such, self-compassionate partners are likely to resolve any form of interpersonal conflict by balancing their needs and that of their partners. Therefore, they are less emotionally turmoiled and more authentic. High levels of empathy among partners results in enhanced wellbeing among partners.
Variables that expedite fulfillment of critical needs and personal goals have a close connectedness to enhanced wellbeing. For instance, a partner’s support to freedom, relatedness, and individual needs based on self-determined motives are likely to facilitate the couple’s wellbeing. Accordingly, romantic partners are likely to have enhanced wellbeing and involve themselves in activities that expedite the attainment of set goals. Romantic experiences influence developmental tasks, such as identity development, close relationship with peers, and sexuality n positive ways. However, relationships among adolescents are likely to vary significantly. While some of them are involved in romantic relationships, others have little or no romantic experience. As a result, the content and quality of relationships are likely to vary significantly.
In the contemporary world, violence within relationships has emerged as one of the notable negative variables for wellbeing based on depression, stress, low self-esteem, and anxiety. Similarly, interracial relationships and same-sex relationships are relational variables that influence wellbeing. Involvement in same-sex relationships results in various forms of rejections based on sexual orientation. According to Exner-Cortens et al. (2017), interracial daters are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression and perceive less support from family members than same-race daters. The influence of sexual activity is a crucial determinant of the level of romance in relationships. High sexual health has a close connectedness with enhanced physical and mental wellbeing among boys and girls. Adolescents with healthy romantic relationships are more likely to attain social health and life satisfaction than their counterparts.
Positive management of a relationship, such as reasoning on others' mental state and self-knowledge, are factors that facilitate resolving problems within a romantic relationship. In such a case, couples have the capabilities of coping with stressful events. In this sense, focusing on perception as a controllable feature has a positive impact on a couple’s wellbeing in case of abuse within a relationship (Exner-Cortens et al., 2017). In any stable relationship, avoidance motives and self-forgiveness are significant indicators of wellbeing. According to relationship therapists, forgiving oneself has a positive connectedness to wellbeing. In most instances, sexual engagement among couples enhances their relationship, especially in resolving issues. Conversely, a limit on a partner’s attention and emotional suppression is likely to affect partners negatively. Finally, romantic competence and successful maintenance of relationships, such as controlling anxiety, can facilitate couples’ decision-making.
Considerably, adolescents of all ages recognize romantic relationships and seek them out for themselves. In the current era of the proliferation of new forms of technology, adolescents have access to the internet and content about sexuality and romantic relationships (Debnam & Temple, 2021). As a result, they are likely to be preoccupied with romantic relationships. As youths move from middle school to high school, they are more likely to indulge in romantic relationships. However, they consider factors, such as physical attraction, in making decisions regarding their desirable partners. Most couples recognize that sexual intercourse is a crucial aspect in enhancing romantic relationships. Besides, the youths perceive marriage as desirable attainment in life. They focus on romantic relationships and cohabitation as the critical determinants of attaining the ultimate objective.
Adolescent romantic relationships are likely to facilitate adult development later in life. Over the years, theoretical schemas make sense that romantic relationships among adolescents fit the existing social relationships. According to a behavioral systems approach, adolescent romantic relationships enhance cooperation, companionship, and reciprocity. The capability of developing and maintaining healthy romantic relationships is one of the fundamental development tasks during adolescence. The development of romantic relationships is a central developmental task among young adults. The youths who establish positive intimate relationships are likely to be more satisfied with their lives. Experiences during adolescence romantic relationships are critical foundations to the transition towards adulthood.
The development of identity is one of the critical results during the adolescence stage. Romantic relationships during the development stage play a crucial role in developing a sense of identity among the youths. For instance, they develop perceptions of being in a romantic relationship out of peer influence. As such, adolescents who have had positive experiences might perceive themselves as attractive partners. On the contrary, adolescents who have had adverse romantic experiences are likely to have little or no confidence in appealing to partners. Romantic relationships ...