For couples, the intimate relationship between partners is one of the most influential in adult life. Couples and relationship education (CRE) intends to provide contextual knowledge and to facilitate the growth of relationship skill sets. However, current CRE programming is largely heteronormative, relying primarily on male/female relationship…

In popular and academic discourse, sexual identity is regularly linked to a concept of sexual engagement with others. Recent thinking on sexuality has, however, opened up the possibility of understanding 'identity' in ways different from sexual behaviour. This paper considers data from the Australian "Queer Generations" project, in which…

Healthy sexual development is a crucial part of human development. Development of sexual values can come from a variety of sources including education, media, and relationships. The present study examined similarities and differences in the sources of sexual values across orientation groups and gender and their impact on sexual satisfaction and…

This paper explores the methodological implications of working with damage: damaged relationality, injured belonging, impaired narratives, and vulnerable identities. The conceptualization of damage as a methodology was the outcome of a narrative investigation into queer relationships' dissolution. The study explored the way in which lesbians…

Objective: To determine the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and academic performance among heterosexual and sexual minority undergraduates, including whether health mediates this relationship. Participants: A national sample of undergraduate students aged 18-24 years old who completed the 2011-2014 National College Health…

HIV disproportionately impacts young African American men who have sex with men (MSM). In this study, we sought to understand how previous relationship experiences and expectations for romantic relationships influence condom use among young African American MSM. Twenty African American MSM aged 16 to 24 years completed a semi-structured interview…

Although trends in young adult literature (YAL) indicate that authors are constructing more positive renditions of gay characters, curricular and pedagogical choices seem to remain quite unsympathetic and "conservative," reproducing harmful stereotypes. This paper contends that the kiss in YAL can symbolize the physical, social, and…

In this study I suggest ways of thinking through issues of intimacy that have emerged in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in the USA. I propose a state of intimaphobia in education. However, I move beyond exposing this state of intimaphobia to offer particular readings of two philosophers of intimacy: Michel Foucault and the…

Previous research has not yielded consistent identity and intimacy associations for female and male emerging adults. Intimacy varies with time spent in a relationship, and relationship duration may explain variations in the identity process association with intimacy. Data from 278 female and 156 male emerging adults revealed relationship duration…

A "native" Christian ethnographer finds religious education at this church-sponsored school to pursue two distinct, and occasionally conflicting, curricula: "love" and "purity." The curriculum of love draws on what Turner called liminality and communitas in an effort to promote spiritual "encounters with…

Seven hundred and twenty-two undergraduates from a large southeastern university in the U.S. and 368 undergraduates from The University of Iceland in the Reykjavik, Iceland completed a 100 item Internet questionnaire revealing their (mostly white and 20-24 years old) attitudes on various relationship and sexual issues. Significant differences…

The present study was designed to investigate links between dimensions of romantic attachment and relationship functioning in a cross-sectional sample of people in same-sex relationships, with the goals of replicating basic findings from research on heterosexual couples and advancing understanding of unique issues faced by same-sex couples. The…

Evidence suggests that lesbian and gay young adults use substances more frequently than their heterosexual peers. Based on the life course perspective, we argue that this difference may be due to the unavailability of marriage as a turning point in the lives of lesbian/gay young adults. We use data from a nationally representative sample of youth…

This Internet-based study used data from a convenience sample of 176 gay men in current partnerships to examine differences in outness, cohesion, and relationship quality between three types of gay male couples: first cohabiting partnerships, repartnerships, and gay stepfamilies. Also, we tested whether relationship quality mediated the link…

Research shows that premarital counseling programs help engaged couples develop interpersonal and problem-solving skills that enhance their marital relationships. Yet, there are limited services for same-sex couples. This article assumes an integrated humanistic and social justice advocacy stance to explore the needs of lesbian, gay, and bisexual…