Developmental trajectories of romantic stages and associations with problem behaviours during adolescence.
Normative romantic development is theorized to progress through a series of stages: affiliative activities, group-based dating, and romantic relationships. The objectives of this research were threefold: empirically examine this progression of romantic stages during adolescence, determine normative and atypical trajectories, and examine links with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. An eight-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 698 adolescents (53.6% female; M(age) = 11.8 years at start of study). A group-based trajectory approach was employed to identify prototypical trajectories of romantic development and a model with three distinct romantic trajectories (i.e., On-time, Early Starters and Late Bloomers) was identified. Both timing and sequencing of romantic activity differed among trajectory groups. Analysis of Variance (ANOVAs) identified associations between Early Starters and externalizing behaviours in early, middle and later adolescence. The findings support progression through theorized stages of romantic activity and highlight the problems that are linked to early-starting and non-sequenced romantic development.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada. Electronic address: connolly@yorku.ca.
Jennifer
J
Connolly
Hien N T
HN
Nguyen
Debra
D
Pepler
Wendy
W
Craig
Depeng
D
Jiang
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Adolescence; Developmental trajectory; Romantic stages