Romantic Partners, Parents and Friends: Relationship Change and Stability in Emerging Adulthood

ALICIA FACIO; SANTIAGO RESETT; FABIANA MICOCCI

Filadelfia

Conferencia; XIII Biennial Meeting de la Society for Research on Adolescence; 2010

Longitudinal research on romantic relationships in emerging adulthood refers almost exclusively to North American and European samples. The findings presented here concern young people living in Argentina, a developed Latin American country belonging to the Latin and Catholic cultural tradition and characterized by high levels family closeness. Two questions were explored: first, the salience of romantic partners in the network of close relationships from adolescence to age 23, and second, what the correlates of emotional problems are for dating involvement and for the quality of the romantic relationship over that period. A sample of 430 14-16-year-old students was randomly selected among the total population attending grades 8-10 in Paraná, a mid-sized Argentinian city; they were examined in 1998 and again at ages 16-18 and 18-21, with 7% attrition. A randomly selected subgroup of 292 participants was examined for the fourth time at average age 23. At each measurement time they completed a survey that included  measures of global self-esteem, depression and anxiety as well as different questions regarding their relationships with mothers, fathers, best friends and romantic partners and only at Time 3 and 4, Furman’s Network of Relationships Inventory regarding these bonds. MANOVA repeated measures and linear regression analyses were performed. Unlike the United States and Europe, romantic relationships were neither normative nor salient during the adolescent years. Only one third of 12th graders reported having a girl/boy friend whereas in emerging adulthood the percentages rose to 45% and 61% at ages 19 and 23, respectively.  The length of the relationship increased markedly over the four waves. Since the first years of adolescence friends overcame mothers as favorite confidants, but in late adolescence they tied with mothers in the first place as support providers. Emerging adulthood was the time in which mothers lost their supremacy: at age 19, friends and romantic partners held the first place, and four years later romantic partners surpassed friends and mothers in this respect. In the four waves, fathers scored lower than the abovementioned providers. Despite changes, parents continued to be very important people in the lives of Argentinian young people: the level of support from both of them did not decrease over the emerging adult years. As in American findings, the least conflicting relationship was that with best friends. Although romantic relationships are recognized as potentially significant factors in adolescent well-being, in Argentina only at age 23 having a partner was associated with lower depression and anxiety in women and higher self-esteem in males. As regards the issue of which type of close relationship better predicted contemporaneous emotional problems, a dramatic decrease was observed in the amount of variance explained by the quality of romantic relationships between ages 19 and 23, suggesting that the challenge they pose might recede over emerging adulthood. Further evidence regarding the role of friends and parents in this life period will be presented.