The Effects of Romantic Involvement on Psychological Well-Being in Late Adolescence

Social dating has long been considered a central part of the adolescent experience. Erikson (1968) and Sullivan (1953) theorized that early romantic relationships play an important role in healthy psychological development, while Dunphy (1963) proposed a stage theory in which normative development of interpersonal relationships culminates in late adolescence with involvement in intimate, dyadic romantic relationships. However, little empirical research has been conducted on these theories until very recently. This study extends the line of research in this area by analyzing the relationship between romantic involvement and well-being in late adolescence; well-being is defined as positive self-concept and absence of depression. Implications of the findings for these theories are discussed. Effects of Romantic Involvement 3 The Effects of Romantic Involvement on Psychological Well-Being in Late Adolescence Social dating has long been considered a central part of the adolescent experience. Sullivan's Interpersonal Theory (1953) holds that romantic involvement allows adolescents to develop senses of self that, in turn, will influence their perceptions of and relationships with others, affecting the course of all subsequent relationships. Moreover, the companionship and intimacy provided by these relationships play an important role in healthy adolescent psychological development, causing adolescent romantic relationships to play an important role throughout young adulthood (Buhrmester and Furman, 1987; Erikson, 1968; Sullivan, 1953). Erikson (1968) and Sullivan (1953) both predict that long-term monogamous relationships will be associated with healthier functioning in late adolescence. Likewise, in describing the development of adolescent romantic relationships, Dunphy (1963) proposed a stage theory in which early adolescence is characterized by same-sex chumships, which progress in middle adolescence to single-gendered cliques interacting in mixed gender groups followed by group dating, and culminate in intimate dyadic relationships in late adolescence. Clearly, romantic involvement should be expected to have a great effect on adolescent psychological functioning. Despite the theoretical attention given to adolescent dating, however, little empirical research has been conducted on the subject until very recently. Recognizing the need for empirical support of these theories, Feiring (1996) conducted a qualitative study that provided important information on the structure of middle adolescent dating relationships. Her findings that dating in this age group is primarily characterized by brief, monogamous relationships and occurs in the context of public, group settings essentially supports Dunphy's stage theory. Accordingly, progression to Dunphy's next stage should be associated with increased well-being. This has, in fact, been supported, as steady dating in midEffects of Romantic Involvement 4 to late adolescents has been linked to higher self-esteem (Samet and Kelly, 1987) and late adolescents involved in long-term romantic relationships have been shown to have greater psychological well-being than those with multiple dating partners (Niederjohn, Welsh and Kawaguchi, 1998). The next logical step in this line of research would be to explore the overall effect of monogamous dating more thoroughly. That is, we should consider whether involvement in intimate romantic relationships is healthier for late adolescents than not being romantically involved at all. This study examines the effect of late adolescent romantic involvenlent on psychological well-being, as indexed by self-esteem and depressive symptomatology. Self-esteem has consistently been shown to have a negative relationship with depression (Orvaschel, Beeferman, and Kabacoff, 1997; Rice, Ashby, and Slaney, 1998; Taylor et aI, 1997). However, nearly all study of this relationship has taken a unidimensional view of self-esteem, although it has been argued that the best image of adolescent self-concept, and therefore of selfesteem, is one that is multifaceted in nature. A strict focus on adolescents' overall feelings about themselves is considered to be inadequate, as young people tend to evaluate themselves along several different domains; this complexity means that an individual with a very positive selfimage in scholastic ability, for example, might still feel inadequate in another area such as athletic ability (Cauce, 1987; Harter, 1990; Lau, 1990; Steinberg, 1996, p. 298). Therefore, exploration of the relationship of depression to the many facets of self-concept would be appropriate. One example of such a study is in the work of Patton and Noller (1994), whose treatment of self-image as a multifaceted trait led to their findings that specific areas of selfimage are significantly correlated with depression. Effects of Romantic Involvement 5 By extending the theories of Sullivan, Erikson, and Dunphy we can infer that self-concept in the specific area of romantic appeal as well as general feelings of self-worth will be especially salient in the issue of adolescent romantic involvement. Furthermore, high perceived romantic appeal should be associated with low depression. Therefore, in order to gain a fuller understanding of adolescent functioning, this study analyzes the relationships between domains of self-esteem, particularly romantic appeal, and depression, in addition to taking a multidimensional approach to the examination of the effects of romantic involvement on selfesteem. Three hypotheses were proposed for this study. First, late adolescents involved in monogamous relationships should display lower levels of depressive symptomatology than those who are not romantically involved. Second, high self-concept, especially in the domains of perceived romantic appeal and global self-worth, should be associated with involvement in monogamous relationships. Finally, self-perceived romantic appeal should be positively associated with absence of depressive symptoms. Effects of Romantic Involvement 6