Despite the well-established association between adolescent sexual activity and delinquent behavior, little research has examined the potential importance of relationship contexts in moderating this association. The current study used longitudinal, behavioral genetic data on 519 same-sex twin pairs (48.6% female) divided into two age cohorts…

In this study, we address the communication technologies individuals within romantic relationships are using to communicate with one another, the frequency of use, and the association between the use of these technologies and couple's positive and negative communication. Participants consisted of individuals involved in a serious, committed,…

The relation between students' social goals and their willingness to seek help for school violence was examined. Four hundred and sixty-two students from sixth, eighth, and tenth grades responded to vignettes used to assess willingness to seek help from teachers and friends for dealing with relational and physical violence. Intimacy goals enhanced…

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious, widespread problem that negatively affects women's lives, including their economic status. The current study explored whether the financial harm associated with IPV begins as early as adolescence. With longitudinal data from a sample of 498 women currently or formerly receiving welfare, we used latent…

Longitudinal, mixed method research on friendships, conducted over the past two decades with Black, Latino, Asian, and European American boys, reveals three themes: (1) the importance for boys of being able to share their secrets with their close friends; (2) the importance of close friendships for boys' mental health; and (3) the loss of but…

Scholars studying college student sexual culture in the United States largely frame men as being detached from emotions, unconcerned with relationships, and in pursuit of sexual conquests. By expanding the examination of college sexual culture, an environment often associated with meaningless sexual encounters, this article tests those stereotypes…

This study examined whether the transition into adolescence, proxied by pubertal timing, shaped the transition into adulthood, proxied by union formation behaviors, among contemporary American women. In a sample drawn from Add Health (n = 7,523), early maturing girls reported an accelerated transition to marriage and cohabitation in young…

With the aim of identifying and examining both convergence (matched relationship quality across one's set of relationships) and nonconvergence (mixed relationship quality across one's set of relationships), the present study used a pattern-centered approach to examine the different ways adolescent relationships pattern together among a large,…

Adverse outcomes of teenage sexual activity are common in the United Kingdom. The authors used a computer-assisted interview to ask young adolescents aged 11 to 12 years (N = 6,856) and 12 to 13 years (N = 6,801) who were part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children about romantic and intimate behaviors. A total of 24% of 11- to…

The role of conflict in parent-adolescent relationships is a topic of considerable theoretical debate and empirical investigation; however, limited attention has been devoted to the strategies used by family members to deal with disagreements and their outcomes and how they differ from early to late adolescence. This study explored conflict styles…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of social context on young people's sexual lives and sexual health, and to highlight the need for HIV prevention and sexual health programmes which better take into account these contextual influences. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on findings from a multi-method,…

Our objective was to examine the prevalence and developmental significance of romantic break-ups in adolescence, a relatively unexplored area of study. We examined their occurrence in a sample of 910 adolescents, first noting the frequency of these events across age, gender, and romantic experience, and then analyzing the dissolution explanations…

Capturing the multiple aspects of the romantic peer context is a significant challenge for research. One often recommended option is to use reports of multiple relationship features from both members of the romantic dyad. Using a new measure, we extended an existing model of dyadic perception (Kenny & Acitelli, 2001) to investigate associations…

No study to date has reported intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences among homeless youth. This study sought to uncover lifetime prevalence estimates of physical, sexual, and emotional IPV among a nonprobability sample of 180 homeless male and female youth in Columbus, Ohio. To that aim, self-reported IPV and the association between IPV and…

Examines the nature and extent of series victimization in the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). This technical report assesses the general patterns of victims' responses to being asked, "How many times did this type of incident occur?" and provides data on how reports of high-frequency repeat victimizations have changed over…