Love and hooking up in the new millennium: communication technology and relationships among urban African American and Puerto Rican young adults

Communication technology is a central feature of young people's lives, but its role in romantic and sexual relationships has not been thoroughly examined. This article describes how young adults use communication technology for partnering across relationship stages (formation, maintenance, and dissolution) and types (serious/casual), and proposes implications of usage in relationships. This study analyzed qualitative data from a five-week, prospective, coital diary method with related debriefing interviews (N = 70) of African American and Puerto Rican men and women aged 18 to 25 years in Hartford and Philadelphia. Cell phones, including calls, text messaging, and mobile Internet, were the most common forms of communication technology used for partnering goals. Participants reported using cell phones to pursue partnering goals across all relationship stages, including formation (meeting, screening, and getting to know new partners), maintaining existing relationships, and breaking up. Cell phone uses depended on the type of relationship (serious/casual) and the participants' intentions and desires. Results indicated that cell phones are an important element of communication among young adults in romantic and sexual relationships. Specific features of cell phone communication shape the process and context of partnering. Future research should explore emerging communication technologies and implications for psychosocial development, dating violence, and sexual behavior.     

Love and Hooking Up in the New Millennium: Communication Technology and Relationships among Urban African American and Puerto Rican Young Adults

Communication technology is a central feature of young people's lives, but its role in romantic and sexual relationships has not been thoroughly examined. This article describes how young adults use communication technology for partnering across relationship stages (formation, maintenance, and dissolution) and types (serious/casual), and proposes implications of usage in relationships. This study analyzed qualitative data from a five-week, prospective, coital diary method with related debriefing interviews (N = 70) of African American and Puerto Rican men and women aged 18 to 25 years in Hartford and Philadelphia. Cell phones, including calls, text messaging, and mobile Internet, were the most common forms of communication technology used for partnering goals. Participants reported using cell phones to pursue partnering goals across all relationship stages, including formation (meeting, screening, and getting to know new partners), maintaining existing relationships, and breaking up. Cell phone uses depended on the type of relationship (serious/casual) and the participants' intentions and desires. Results indicated that cell phones are an important element of communication among young adults in romantic and sexual relationships. Specific features of cell phone communication shape the process and context of partnering. Future research should explore emerging communication technologies and implications for psychosocial development, dating violence, and sexual behavior.     

Contraceptive Attitudes and Sexual Self-Esteem Among Young Adults: Communication and Quality of Relationships with Mothers

ABSTRACT. Objectives: This study investigated relations between quality of relationships with mothers and communication with mothers about sex with contraceptive attitudes and sexual self-esteem among emerging adults. Methods: Undergraduate students (N = 176, M_age = 22 years 65% women) completed self-report measures of relationships with mothers, communication about sex, and sexual self-esteem. Results: Results indicated positive relations between quality of relationships with mothers and open, positive sex communication, for men and women, sexually and not sexually active; and between relationship quality with mothers, sex communication with mothers, and sexual self-esteem of women. Conclusions: Warm, supportive relationships with mothers in emerging adulthood include open, comfortable communications about sexuality, which were linked to features of sexual well-being of young adults.     

Survivor Feedback on a Safety Decision Aid Smartphone Application for College-Age Women in Abusive Relationships

College-age women are at high risk for dating violence and tend to seek services at rates lower than older adults. Young women are more likely to look to their peers or to technology as a forum for accessing safety resources. This study explores a prototype smart phone application (“app”) that is a safety decision aid for female survivors of dating violence. The app is intended to assist young women to assess the danger in their abusive relationship, set priorities for safety, and develop a personalized safety plan. Through focus group sessions and individual interviews, 38 female college students in 4 states (Arizona, Maryland, Missouri, and Oregon) who self-identified as survivors of abusive relationships reviewed and provided feedback on the usefulness, understandability, appropriateness, and comprehensiveness of the app. The focus group sessions and interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Participants were positive about the potential of the app to provide personalized information about abusive dating relationships and appropriate resources in a private, safe, and nonjudgmental manner. Detailed feedback from survivors and recommendations for further development of the app are discussed.     

Ambivalence and Living Apart Together in Later Life: A Critical Research Proposal

Most unattached older persons who would like an intimate partnership do not want to remarry or be in a marriage‐like relationship. A growing trend is to live apart together (LAT) in an ongoing intimate relationship that does not include a common home. We address the debate about whether LAT constitutes a new form of intimate relationship in a critical assessment of research on LAT relationships that applies ambivalence and concepts from the life course perspective. We conclude that among older but not younger adults, LAT relationships are generally a stable alternative to living with a partner, negotiated in the context of current social institutions and arrangements. We propose research questions that address later life living apart together as an innovative alternative intimate relationship. We encourage comparative work on the unique challenges of later life living apart together, their implications for other family ties, and their connection to social and cultural arrangements.     

Mobile communication and refugees: An analytical review of academic literature

Over the past decade, an expanding literature has explored the ways in which refugees rely on mobile communication technologies to stay in touch with a wider community and to access relevant information and services in their new places. Nevertheless, challenges linked to (a lack of) digital literacy and accessibility among refugees, and associated risks of technology use can negatively affect their empowerment and participation in a “mediatized” society. In light of the mutually shaping processes emerging between technology and society, this article provides an overview of studies focusing on the relationship between mobile communication practices and refugee lives under different circumstances. Using the concept of affordances as an analytic tool, this article looks into ways in which existing studies address the possibilities and vulnerabilities of mobile communications, the social conditions, and the agency of refugees in engaging with mobile technologies in the different temporal and spatial dimensions of their migration trajectories. Future studies should explore more collective processes and the power dynamics involved in the appropriation of mobile technologies by different migration actors.     

Stalking and other forms of intrusive contact after the dissolution of adolescent dating or romantic relationships

Social science research has recently begun to focus on stalking and other forms of intrusive contact occurring among adolescents and young adults. This article presents results from a survey of 681 undergraduates about their experiences with stalking or other forms of intrusive contact occurring after the end of a dating or romantic relationship. Twenty percent of the respondents had been the target of intrusive contact, 8% had initiated intrusive contact, and 1% had been the target of intrusive contact after one relationship and had initiated intrusive contact after another. More females than males were the target of intrusive contact; however, there were no sex differences associated with initiating intrusive contact. About 20% of the respondents had feared for their safety during the intrusive contact. Thirty-one percent of the respondents described the intrusive contact as having a decidedly negative influence on either their subsequent dating relationships or their lives in general.     

More Than Just Sex

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify behaviors in addition to those of an explicitly sexual or romantic nature that men and women define as unfaithful acts in the context of committed dating relationships. We also sought to identify possible gender differences in the proportions of men and women who have engaged in these unfaithful behaviors while in dating relationships. We examined 219 college men's and women's reported involvement in sexual behaviors, romantic attachments, sexual and nonsexual fantasies, sexual attraction, romantic attraction, flirting, and social participation in dyads and groups with someone other than their current or past dating partner. A sizable proportion of both men and women reported engaging in one or more of the behaviors at some point in their dating history. Proportionately more men than women indicated having engaged in sexual fantasies of various types about someone other than their primary partner and reported “hitting on” someone else while in a dating relationship. No other gender differences emerged. A unique aspect of this study is that we asked young men and women to determine what kinds of behaviors they considered to be unfaithful rather than only examining sexual and emotional behaviors as has been the case in past research. Further, the few significant gender differences we found indicates that the convergence of men's and women's attitudes about sexuality may now be show in their behavior.     

“I don't know where I would be right now if it wasn't for them”: Emancipated foster care youth and their important non-parental adults

Research has identified the benefits of having non-parental adults for older youth in foster care, but less is known about the characteristics of these relationships, as well as the processes that support the foster youth as they transition from care to independence. The present study included a diverse group of 99 young adults, who recently emancipated from care in a major U.S. city. These young adults reported having a very important non-parental adult (VIP) and 63 of these VIPs were also included in this study. The youth participated in a two-hour in-person interview followed by a survey, and the VIPs underwent a phone interview; all of these interviews were later transcribed and qualitatively coded using thematic analysis. Overall, this study aimed to: 1) identify the characteristics of these VIPs, and 2) elucidate how the VIPs support youth during the transition from care. Prominent characteristics of the youth and VIP relationship identified in this study include the relationship being “parent-like”, respectful, and reciprocal with regards to communication. Moreover, it was found that both the youth and the VIPs viewed these relationships to be important in reducing negative outcomes for the youth. These results call for the foster care system to take steps in helping foster care youth find and build relationships with the non-parental adults in their lives — VIPs can serve as important sources of support to aid foster youth in their adaptation to young adulthood.     

Dimensions of Intimacy: The Interrelationships between Gender and Listening

In the introduction to their text on intimate relationships, Perlman and Duck (1987, p. 9) note that psychologists, sociologists, family scientists and communication experts “are all making important contributions” to the study of personal relationships, thereby reflecting the recent multidisciplinary aspect of this field. However, in many important works on intimacy and intimate relationships, the gender differences that often create barriers to intimacy, and how these differences are reflected in the communication process, have, until recently, been notably absent.¹ While alluded to repeatedly, nowhere, in fact, is the connection directly made between intimacy and the listening behavior of women and men. This paper therefore attempts to fill this absence by integrating into the literature on intimacy the salient aspects of listening that affect the quality of intimate relationships between women and men. Hopefully, such understanding will contribute to our knowledge of the concept of intimacy in our culture and will facilitate razing the barriers to intimate relationships that are a product of cultural expectations.     

Neighborhood Norms,Disadvantage, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

Most theoretical treatments of intimate partner violence (IPV) focus on individual‐level processes. More recently, scholars have begun to examine the role of macrolevel factors. Results of that research indicate that social ties facilitate the diffusion of cultural norms—including tolerance of deviance/violence—across neighborhoods. Yet the influence of the neighborhood normative climate extends beyond norms regarding the use of violence, shaping cultural understanding about dating and the opposite sex. Using data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), the current investigation examines the multilevel association between dating norms and IPV perpetration among a large, diverse sample of adolescents and young adults. Results indicate that individuals’ liberal dating attitudes are associated with IPV perpetration. Furthermore, this effect varies across levels of neighborhood disadvantage.     

Smartphone and social media addiction: Exploring the perceptions and experiences of Canadian teenagers

“Addiction” to internet‐connected technology continues to dominate media discourses of young people. Researchers have identified negative outcomes, including decreased mental health, resulting from anxieties related to technology, e.g., a fear of missing out and social connectivity related to online technologies. Not enough is known, however, regarding young people's own responses to these ideas. This paper highlights discussions with teenagers around the idea of internet addiction, exploring their experiences and perceptions regarding the idea that “kids today” are addicted to their devices, especially smartphones and the social network sites they often access from them. Thirty‐five focus group discussions with 115 Canadian teenagers (aged 13–19 years old) center on their use of information communication technologies, especially contemporary social network sites such as Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. Our discussions reveal (1) that teens are actively embracing the label of addiction; (2) their ironic positioning occurs despite a felt sense of debased agency in relation to the power of the algorithms and affordances of the technologies mediating their use; and (3) rather than a stark divide between adults as “digital immigrants” versus young people as “digital natives,” our teens positioned themselves in contrast to both their parents and younger siblings, both of whom are criticized as addicted themselves. A consistent theme is the influence of peer groups who socially compel addictive behaviours, including the fear of missing out, rather than the technologies per se. Wider implications for thinking beyond solely young people as suffering from online addiction are considered.     

Behavioral and Relational Contexts of Adolescent Desire,Wanting, and Pleasure: Undergraduate Women's Retrospective Accounts

Studies of adolescent female sexuality often focus on coitus to the exclusion of noncoital behaviors, the relational context of sexual interactions, and adolescent women's subjective perceptions of their experiences. In this study, 38 undergraduate women's retrospective accounts of their adolescent heterosexual experiences were examined. Generalized estimating equation models were used to test the relation of diverse heterosexual behaviors and relationship types to participants' subjective perceptions of desire, wanting, and pleasure. Of the sexual behaviors, coitus was the strongest predictor of participants' subjective perceptions. Compared to coitus, erotic touching, manual stimulation, and fellatio were significantly less predictive; there were no differences between coitus and cunnilingus or coitus and kissing. Of the relationships (serious, dating, “friends with benefits” [FWBs], and “hookups”), FWBs was the strongest predictor of participants' desire, wanting, and pleasure; in comparison, hookups were significantly less predictive. These findings offer insight into the sexual behaviors and preferences of young women, as well as distinctions between types of non-romantic sexual relationships.     

Parental Divorce and Premarital Couples: Commitment and Other Relationship Characteristics

Parental divorce is thought to affect the romantic relationships of young adults, especially with respect to their certainty about the relationship and perceptions of problems in it. We examined these connections with a random sample of 464 coupled partners. Compared with women from intact families, women from divorced families reported less trust and satisfaction, but more ambivalence and conflict. For men, perceptions of relationships were contingent on the marital status of their partners' parents, although men from intact and divorced families did differ on structural constraints that affect commitment. Young adults who were casually dating showed the strongest effects of parental divorce, suggesting that the repercussions of parental divorce may be in place before the young adults form their own romantic relationships.     

Adolescents’ Perceptions and Standards of Their Relationships with Their Parents as a Function of Sociometric Status

This study examined adolescents' cognitions of their relationships with their parents as a function of sociometric status. The adolescents' subjective views of their relationships with their mothers and fathers were assessed with respect to seven relationship qualities (general warmth, displays of warmth, intimate self‐disclosure, parental monitoring, conflict, instrumental aid, and provisions of autonomy) across two cognition types: perceptions (beliefs about “how things are”) and standards (beliefs about “how things should be”). The participants were sixth‐, eighth‐, tenth‐, and twelfth‐grade students. Peer sociometric status was determined based on unlimited peer nominations completed by 462 participants. The 190 adolescents classified as average, popular, or rejected were included in the analyses. Perceptions and standards were shown to be distinct but related cognitions. Rejected adolescents differed from their more accepted peers in their perceptions of relationships with both mothers and fathers, specifically with regard to warmth from both parents and autonomy from mothers. Rejected adolescents also reported lower standards for parental monitoring and a range of support qualities from both parents. In addition, rejected adolescents' reports demonstrated greater perception‐standard discrepancies, indicating unmet standards. Overall, sociometric status group differences were more pronounced and consistent for standards than for perceptions, and most status group differences occurred primarily among older adolescents. Findings are discussed in terms of social cognitive patterns associated with peer rejection and developmental changes in family–peer linkages across adolescence.     

Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adult Dating,Cohabitating, and Married Drinking Partnerships

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined intimate partner violence (IPV) and drinking partnerships in 741 young adults in male‐female dating, cohabitating, and married relationships. Cluster analyses revealed four similar kinds of drinking partnerships: (a) congruent light and infrequent, (b) discrepant male heavy and frequent, (c) discrepant female heavy and infrequent, and (d) congruent moderate/heavy‐frequent drinkers. Overall, there were no significant main effect differences across relationship type and clusters. The type of relationship and the type of drinking partnership interacted with contexts examined (i.e., type of violence severity, gender, and whether the violence was perpetration or victimization). Given the severity of IPV in couple relationships, additional empirical attention to drinking partnerships is warranted.     

The mediation of gay men's lives: A review on gay dating app studies

A growing body of literature focuses on gay men's use of mobile dating applications or “dating apps.” Running on smartphones and working with GPS, dating apps connect users to others in close geographic proximity and often in real time. These apps allow users to create profiles to present themselves and interact with each other to reach multiple goals, such as casual sex, dating, or networking. Attending to the dynamics between communication technologies and society, this article reviews gay dating app studies that highlight the communicative practices and social relations mediated by dating apps. Using the mediation framework as a starting point, we examine major themes in these studies, including gay men's online self‐presentation and interactions, gay community in the digital era, and gay men's interpersonal relationships. We suggest that future research should pay more attention to the technical development of dating devices and the transformation of gay men's social relations.     

Navigating “Breakup Remorse”: Implications for Disrupting the On-Again/Off-Again Cycles in Young Adult Dating Relationships

While the research is clear on the risks for distress associated with on-again, off-again romantic relationships (i.e., cyclical relationships), little is known about the change mechanisms experienced by partners in cyclical relationships or how helping professionals can assist young adults stably continue or end these relationships. Young adults (N = 21) in different stages of cyclical relationships (renewed, ended, or contemplating renewal) attended focus groups and articulated specific mechanisms that influenced their ability to make distress-reducing decisions. Main themes for professionals working with partners in cyclical relationships centered on promoting “decision-making resilience,” which included addressing issues around identity development, communication, power/control dynamics, and intentionality. These results inform assessments and interventions to bolster resilience and reduce distress for cyclical couples.