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The goal of this chapter is to examine (1) how children’s rapport with dating partners predicts mothers’ dating stability; (2) how characteristics of dating partners are associated with children’s problem behaviors; and (3) how mothers’ lingering attachment to the former spouse predicts relationship quality of dating relationships.

Data comes from a multimethod, multi-informant longitudinal study of postdivorce dating relationships (N = 319 mothers, n = 178 children, n = 153 dating partners). Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to test consequences of breakup of mothers’ dating relationships for children’s behaviors, children’s rapport with dating partners for mothers’ dating relationship stability, and mothers’ lingering attachment for quality of dating relationships.

We found that children’s rapport with dating partners was positively associated with dating breakup; more antisocial traits and drunkenness of mothers’ dating partners was positively associated with children’s problem behaviors at breakup; and lingering attachment was positively associated with poorer relationship quality with dating partners.

Because the focus of this chapter is divorced mothers with children, future studies are recommended to examine fathers’ postdivorce dating relationships. Future research should delineate dating, cohabiting, and remarried relationships after divorce.

This chapter presents empirical data examining the influence children have on mothers’ dating relationships, the influence of mothers’ dating relationships on children’s behaviors, and the effects of mothers’ lingering attachment to the former spouse on quality of mothers’ dating relationships. Information from this research is crucial for researchers and practitioners to assist mother’s and children’s postdivorce adjustment.

Studies on restrictive engulfment (RE) – a subtype of psychological aggression in intimate relationships – have focused either on insecure attachment or relationship satisfaction, not both. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate relationship satisfaction as a potential mediator of the associations between anxious and avoidant attachment and RE perpetration among college students.

A sample of 322 college students (178 women, 137 men, and seven other gender-identified) completed the experiences in close relationship inventory, relationship assessment scale, and RE subscale of the multidimensional measure of emotional abuse.

Among the sample, 89.3 and 90.5 percent of the college women and men, respectively, reported to have used isolating, restricting, monitoring, and controlling behaviors. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that all direct paths except for that from avoidant attachment to RE were significant. Moreover, significant indirect paths were identified from anxious and avoidant attachment to RE via relationship satisfaction.

The results of this study should be interpreted with consideration of the study’s limitations. First, the data were drawn from a convenience sample of Turkish college students. Second, the design of the study is correlational; therefore, we cannot assume causality. Finally, this study utilized self-report and retrospective data.

Though the findings are preliminary, they may inform college counselors and other mental health practitioners about the nature of RE within college students’ dating relationships. College students who are unhappy with their dating relationships but still in those relationships (i.e. they choose not to leave) should be assessed for whether they are the perpetrators and/or recipients of psychological aggression, especially in light of the high rates of this form of aggression in the current and previous studies. Furthermore, assessing psychological dating aggression perpetrators for insecure attachment styles may help mental health professionals who work with college students, envisage the sessions toward areas in the need of improvement, such as their views of themselves and others. Self-esteem, feelings of insecurity and inadequacy in relationships, and dependency can be worked with these clients.

The results of this study also have implications for the prevention of psychological aggression before it occurs. The need for prevention programs is evident in the high rates of psychologically controlling behaviors among college students. It may be useful to implement campus wide programs to raise awareness regarding psychological aggression, such as through events, seminars, posters, flyers, and talks with student groups.

Despite the limitations of this study, its findings offer insight into the factors that influence the perpetration of psychological aggression within dating relationships among college students. Adult attachment theory offers a useful lens for understanding the possible driving forces behind college students’ controlling behaviors toward their dating partners. In particular, college students who demonstrate an insecure attachment style – and especially an anxious attachment style – combined with low levels of relationship satisfaction appear to be at a high risk for perpetrating RE behaviors.

Adolescence is a period of new experiences, including dating. Romantic relationships can be a source of stress; one-third of teens experience dating violence (Molidor & Tolman, 1998; Straus, 2004). Teens are also at a heightened risk for suicide; it is the third leading cause of death among teens (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2013a). Suicidal ideation, threats, and attempts occur within the context of a relationship where there is also dating violence (Chan, Straus, Brownridge, Tiwari, & Leung, 2008; Else, Goebert, Bell, Carlton, & Fukuda, 2009). Due to life course, adolescence may not have knowledge, experience, or skills to manage these situations. Furthermore, these experiences may shape romantic relationship expectations as adults. Both dating violence and suicidality have short- and long-term effects (for example, see Castellví et al., 2017; Coker et al., 2000; Exner-Cortens, Eckenrode, & Rothman, 2013; Holmes & Sher, 2013; Jouriles, Garrido, Rosenfield, & McDonald, 2009; Magdol et al., 1997; Zaha, Helm, Baker, & Hayes, 2013). However, little is known about how young women that experience teen dating violence and partner suicidality respond (except, see Baker, Helm, Bifulco, & Chung-Do, 2015). This study seeks to explore this gap.

As part of a larger study, 16 young women who had experienced a “bad dating relationship” as a teenager also disclosed that their boyfriends had threatened suicide. These young women completed in-depth, retrospective interviews to discuss their experiences. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using HyperResearch. Life course and grounded theory guided this research.

The young women that experienced suicidal threats by their dating partners were also victims of a range of abusive behaviors in their dating relationships, including verbal, physical, and sexual abuses and controlling behaviors. The young women struggled with how to deal with the suicidal ideation and the abuse concurrently. Some of the young women believed that the threats of suicide were real, and had concerns for their boyfriends’ well-being. Others believed that their boyfriend was using this as a manipulative tactic to get them the stay in the unhealthy relationship. This impacted how young women dealt with and reacted to the abuse, including if they chose to stay in the relationship or not.

This study provides narratives from young women in relationships where there is dating violence and threats of suicide, which adds to our understanding of the dynamics of how life course impacts both dating violence and suicide. The sample is small and not generalizable. Future research should include both partners to provide a more holistic picture of the relationship. Additional research should also examine any differences of experiences based on gender, race and ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation.

This has serious implications for prevention education and intervention. Policy-makers may want to consider: (1) mandating additional training for teachers and other adults that work with teens, in order to identify warning signs of both dating violence and suicidal ideation, (2) require education for teens on these topics, and (3) ensure evidenced-based interventions are accessible to teens dealing with these issues.

This paper provides a deeper understanding of teen experiences with suicidal threats and how they respond to them within the context of an abusive dating relationship. Policy-makers, advocates, school personnel, and youth may benefit from these findings, particularly in regard to developing appropriate prevention education and interventions.

Dating violence has, in recent times, been a social problem that has been creating different levels of concern especially among parents, and those in the academia, in Nigeria. Studies have shown causes to be largely due to personality types, but little relate it with violence between the parents of the perpetrator. This study examines the influence of violence between parents and the effect on dating violence among students in Nigerian Universities.

Questionnaires were administered to 460 students who had experienced violence in their dating relationship. The study had 55.7% of the respondents being females.

All of the respondents had experienced dating violence at one point or the other in their relationship. About 36.7% of the respondents reported to having been in dating relationship with a partner who had witnessed violence in the home. Data analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient indicate that the variables of parental conflict and dating violence were significantly positively correlated among the students.

The study was limited because it focuses on only one university, and research in the area of dating violence in Nigeria has not been extensively reported. The study therefore emphasizes the impact of socialization process on dating behavior of young adults in Nigeria as well as the need to have further studies on these dating patterns. This study will serve as addition to the gradually increasing literature on dating behavior of young adults in the Nigerian society.

Purpose – To examine how youth appropriate and resist elements of the developmental discourse as they construct and enforce dating norms.

Methodology – In 2007, we conducted participant observation at a middle school summer camp for youth in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Youth ranged in age from 11 to 17 years old.

Findings – Youth borrowed the idea of a normative sequence of behaviors arranged by age from the developmental discourse to establish a set of age-appropriate dating norms for all campers, regardless of chronological age. Youth enforced these norms by treating other dating actions as too young or too old. By tying this linear trajectory to social age instead of chronological age, youth creatively altered the apparently rigid developmental discourse and established dating norms which addressed their own values and concerns. Youth established dating norms and maximized opportunities for pleasurable, collective discussions about dating and romantic relationships. Although the developmental discourse influenced the norms in this peer culture, we argue that the small, heterogeneous composition of the camp facilitated youths' ability to appropriate, refashion, and resist the developmental discourse.

The behavioural changes embraced by the current generation has prompted researchers to revisit the paradigm of human relationships, especially romantic liaisons. The present study revisits the construct of romantic relationships steered by social media platforms, through the dimensions of self-disclosure, social intimacy and trust. The role of trust as a mediator to determine the success of online dating is also explored in this study.

The study uses the data collected from 225 respondents (86 females and 139 males) in the age group of 18 to 30 years. The respondents were asked to fill a questionnaire (provided they fulfilled the necessary conditions and expressed their consent to be a participant in this study).

The study validates that the extent of self-disclosure propels the degree of social intimacy. The results also confirm a significant partial mediation effect of trust on the relationship between social intimacy and the success of online dating. Thus, practitioners need to keep in mind that the probability of online dating success is higher when individuals disclose more and engage in an intimate relationship driven by trust.

The study sample is restricted to young adults ranging from 18 to 30 years, based on the author’s convenience. The study was restricted to three most popular social media platforms in India where disclosure is limited to private timelines or messages. Another limitation of this study is that a multi-variate model of analysis could not be used due to the lack of parallel variables. Further studies can also compare online versus offline dating behaviour and determinants that influence the romantic relationship between two partners.

The new perspective could be to ascertain specific built-in mechanisms providers should develop to ensure that the new generation benefits from new technology rather than falling victim to its toxins.

The study re-establishes the importance of the role of trust in any romantic relationship – may it be online or the more traditional, offline or face-to-face mode.

The study delves into the domain of existing romantic relationships established through the modernistic viewpoint of online social media platforms. The findings bring a fresh perspective on the dynamics of online romantic relationships through the mélange of self-disclosure, social intimacy and trust. Previous literature suggests that trust is dependent on self-disclosure, which is in contrast with the results of the current study. The present study corroborates that trust leads to the success of online dating.

The spread of the Internet has transformed the dating landscape. Given the increasing popularity of online dating and rising immigration to Canada, this study takes an intersectional lens to examine nativity and gender differentials in heterosexual online dating.

In 2018, a random-digit-dial telephone survey was conducted in Canada. Logistic regression models were used to analyze original data from this survey (N = 1,373).

Results show that immigrants are more likely than native-born people to have used online dating in Canada, possibly because international relocation makes it more difficult for immigrants to meet romantic partners in other ways. In online-to-offline transitions, both native-born and immigrant online daters follow gendered scripts where men ask women out for a first date. Finally, immigrant men, who likely have disadvantaged positions in offline dating markets, also experience the least success in finding a long-term partner online.

Extending search theory of relationship formation to online dating, this study advances the understanding of change and continuity in gendered rituals and mate-selection processes in the digital and globalization era. Integrating search theory and intersectionality theory, this study highlights the efficiency of using the Internet to search for romantic partners and the socially constructed hierarchy of desirability as interrelated mechanisms that produce divergent online dating outcomes across social groups. Internet dating, instead of acting as an agent of social change, may reproduce normative dating practices and existing hierarchies of desirability.

The majority of emerging adults in the United States spend time in cohabiting unions. Prior research has suggested that higher levels of sexual non-exclusivity may exist among those in cohabiting relationships compared to marital unions. Although these basic patterns have been explored in prior work, research examining the potential reasons why levels of sexual non-exclusivity differ by union status has been limited. Drawing on a relational perspective and using the fifth wave of data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), the present study found that higher levels of sexual non-exclusivity in cohabiting relationships were explained by intimate relationship characteristics and sexual histories rather than sociodemographic factors, partner heterogamy, or partner- and couple-level drug use. These findings highlighted that understanding the higher rates of sexually non-exclusive experiences in cohabiting relationships, compared to marital relationships, requires attention to specific dynamics of the intimate partnership and prior relational experiences of both partners. The study concluded that cohabitation has a unique place in emerging adults’ relationship landscape and may set the groundwork for future relationship functioning.

An online survey was carried out with the purpose of finding out the extent to which internet users subscribe to online dating services. The paper aims to assess users' experiences of such services and their eventual outcomes.

Data were obtained through a self‐completion online questionnaire survey posted on the website of a leading internet research agency, utilising its online panel of c. 30,000 UK respondents.

More than 3,800 online panellists responded of whom 29 per cent said they had used an online dating site. Most of these respondents (90 per cent) had spent up to £200 on internet dating in the past two years, with 70 per cent of users achieving at least one date, 43 per cent enjoying at least one sexual relationship, and 9 per cent finding a marriage partner.

Despite the limitations over sample control of self‐completion surveying, a large online sample was achieved that indicated the growing importance of the internet for finding social and even sexual companionship.

Data indicate the kinds of factors that are important to internet daters in choosing online dating agencies and that drive eventual satisfaction with service received.

This survey provides original and up‐to‐date findings on a growing online and social phenomenon and represents one of the largest surveys of its kind yet carried out in the UK.

Purpose: This chapter examines the resurgence of femininity among Euro-American women who do so under the guidance of a dating coach for success in heteronormative relationships. I set this analysis against Sheryl Sandberg’s concept of “leaning in” at the workplace and older strains of feminist theory in order to analyze, contextualize, and situate the dating group’s engagement with and resistance to feminist theory.

Methodology/Approach: My argument comes from a narrative and content analysis of the dating coach’s blog, public access forum, and data from following the group’s Facebook members-only group from January 2016 to January 2017.

Findings: Katarina Phang’s dating group both rejects and engages with feminist theory. It is very similar to the neoliberal vision of female embodiment in three key ways. The group’s techniques also reference older variants of feminist theory, specifically Virginia Woolf’s and second wave feminist proponents of “consciousness-raising.”

Research Implications: In a “postfeminist” period, researchers have reported a contradiction of a conception of feminism co-existing with a desire for a traditional heteronormative relationship. Phang’s dating philosophy fills and outlines this space neatly.

Social Implications: The cultural resurgence of femininity re-inscribes the gender binary and re-invokes polarized conceptions of gender within heteronormative relationships as well as re-invokes older variants of feminist theory.

Originality/Value: No such study of this dating group has been conducted, nor attention to the resurgence of femininity among Euro-American women with desire as the prime motivator.