Navigating Love in a Post-Pandemic World: Understanding Young Adults’ Views on Short- and Long-Term Romantic Relationships

Abstract

The uncertain future due to COVID-19 pandemic and the technological advancements may have altered young adults' experiences of romantic relationships. It is unclear whether individuals will continue to prefer traditional long-term romantic relationships (LTRR) or opt for short-term ones (STRR). This research describes how young adults in Malaysia perceive LTRR and STRR. Using the structured approach of the Theory of Social Representation, data were collected from N N = 512; 238 (46.48%) male; M age 21.75; majority are heterosexual and students, and analyzed using prototypical analysis to reveal high consensus elements. Five observations were made: (1) females prioritize "Love" in both STRR and LTRR, while males prioritize "love" only in LTRR; (2) females prioritize "marriage" in LTRR, while men prioritize "trust," "comfort," and "stability." Males do not consider "marriage" as part of a LTRR; (3) both males and females view STRR positively, while LTRR are viewed more practically; (4) "sex" is a core element in STRR but is absent in LTRR; (e) males differentiate between STRR and LTRR with no overlapping elements. These findings provide insight into the social representations of romantic relationships among young adults in Malaysia and suggest future directions for research in the field.

The Empire of Affectivity: Qualitative Evidence of the Subjective Orgasm Experience

“…A Sociodemographic and Sexual History Questionnaire was employed, which collected information on sex, age, educational level, nationality, sexual orientation, relationship status, age of first sexual relationship (oral, vaginal, and/or anal), and first masturbation. The Technique of Free Association of Words proposed by Vergès [ 31 ] was used as a word abduction instrument [ 32 ], in hierarchical evocation and sensitive to the investigated content from an inducing stimulus [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. In the present study, two inducing stimuli were applied in relation to SOE: “orgasm in sexual relationships” and “orgasm in solitary masturbation”, asking participants to indicate the first five words that originated in their thoughts in relation to them.…”

“…Initially, a prototypical analysis was performed for each of the stimuli under study (orgasm in sexual relationships and orgasm in masturbation). This strategy uses a spreadsheet of hierarchical data to categorize them according to their significant elements, allowing to obtain as a resulting product four quadrants (upper quadrants, called central core and first periphery, and lower quadrants, called zone of contrast and second periphery), considering their frequencies and mean evocations [ 35 , 37 , 41 ]. The central core represents high-frequency words with a high level of importance; the first periphery offers high-frequency words but with lower importance; the zone of contrast includes lower-frequency words but with a high level of importance; and the second periphery represents low-frequency words with a low level of importance.…”