Support and Adolescents’ Positive Relationship Feelings: An Ecological Assessment Study Among Inter- and Same-racial-ethnic Couples

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Social Relationships

Abstract

A central feature of social emotional development in adolescence is the emergence of romantic relationships (Collins, Welsh, & Furman, 2009). Dating is a normative developmental experience and romantic partners are central in adolescents’ lives. They are important sources of support, and quickly become comparable in importance to parents and best friends (Furman, Ho, & Low, 2007). While support within romantic relationships can potentially be a powerful and positive socialization context for adolescents’ social emotional development, we currently know little about it. Furthermore, more adolescents now are dating interracially (Kreager, 2008) and some studies showed that interracial couples experience more stress and less wellbeing (Tillman & Miller, 2017), which may accentuate the importance of partner support for interracial couples. We investigated support from romantic partners and how it relates to adolescents’ positive feelings about romantic relationships. Uniquely, we examine support processes in adolescents’ day-to-day lives and compare inter- and same-racial-ethnic adolescent couples.
In total, N = 91 heterosexual romantic couples (age M =16.7, SD = .90) participated in a dyadic ecological momentary assessment. A third of the sample consisted of interracial couples who were Latinx and Caucasian, another third consisted of Latinx couples, as well as one third of Caucasian couples. Couples were assessed twice weekly over the course of 12 weeks. On average, participants completed 71% of their assessments (total of 3905 assessments). Both partners independently completed an open-ended question about the (1) the most daily stressful event (Table 1), (2) indicate how stressful that event was and (3) indicate how much support they received from their partner. Furthermore, daily positive romantic feelings (feeling loved and committed) were assessed.
Dyadic multilevel models were conducted controlling for day of the week and average support, and we tested for moderation of inter- and same-racial-ethnic couples. For the Latinx and inter-race groups, we find that on the days when the daily stressor involves the romantic partner, and the stressor is perceived to be stressful, partner support is associated with an increase in positive romantic feelings (Figure 1). Caucasian couples do not show such patterns, and these patterns were statistically different (white vs. Latinx: b(2590) = 0.045, p = 0.025; white vs. inter-race: b(2590) = 0.044, p =0.032).
These findings underscore the developmental significance of romantic relationships as a socialization context for adolescents’ social emotional development. The current findings are important for highlighting the beneficial effects of romantic partner support on relationship feelings, which were applicable for interracial dating and Latinx couples. Adolescent romantic relationship involvement has been linked to poorer psychological adjustment, which might be especially true for teens in interracial relationships or for those from an ethnic-racial minority background. Thus, a better understanding of positive romantic relationship experiences may be an important pathway for improving adolescents’ adjustment, and we showed that interracial dating and Latinx couples benefited most from support on stressful days. We will discuss the importance and future directions for developing a better understanding of interracial dating and dating among racial-ethnic minority adolescents.

Authors

• Thao Ha, Arizona State University
  Presenting Author

• Masumi Iida, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author