Telling It Like It Is: Teen Perspectives on Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Overview. Teen romantic relationships have become a pervasive part of popular culture, from TV shows, movies, and books to blogs and social networking sites. But the attention paid to these relationships extends beyond the parameters of popular culture. Romance, teen style, has become of increasing interest to anyone concerned with healthy adolescent development—with good reason. The initiation of romantic relationships represents a key developmental task of adolescence. Research suggests that several critical dimensions of adolescent romantic and sexual relationships—such as how teens define the different types of relationships, how serious they consider these relationships, and how they communicate within them—may influence when teens first have sex and whether they use contraception. In turn, these considerations have a bearing on teens ’ risks of having or fathering a child or of acquiring a sexually transmitted infection (STI). 6,9,13,16 Moreover, relationship habits and patterns developed during adolescence can affect later adult relationships, 2,8 a finding that highlights the importance of developing healthy relationship behaviors during the teen years. The majority of teens in high school have been involved in a romantic relationship, 2 and almost one-half of high school-aged teens report that they have had at least one sexual experience. 4 Learning more about how teens view these relationships can provide insights that help policy makers, program providers, parents,