Well-Being and Romantic Relationships: A Systematic Review in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

Adolescence and emerging adulthood are both stages in which romantic relationships play a key role in development and can be a source of both well-being and negative outcomes. However, the limited number of studies prior to adulthood, along with the multiplicity of variables involved in the romantic context and the considerable ambiguity surrounding the construct of well-being, make it difficult to reach conclusions about the relationship between the two phenomena. This systematic review synthesizes the results produced into this topic over the last three decades. A total of 112 studies were included, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines. On the one hand, these works revealed the terminological heterogeneity in research on well-being and the way the absence of symptoms of illness are commonly used to measure it, while on the other hand, they also showed that romantic relationships can be an important source of well-being for both adolescents and emerging adults. The findings underline the importance of providing a better definition of well-being, as well as to attribute greater value to the significance of romantic relationships. Devoting greater empirical, educational, and community efforts to romantic development in the stages leading up to adulthood are considered necessary actions in promoting the well-being of young people.

Relations among Romantic Myths, Offline Dating Violence Victimization and Cyber Dating Violence Victimization in Adolescents

“…The prevalence of offline DV victimization in adolescents is high, especially the psychological-emotional victimization [30][31][32][33][34][35]. Offline DV victimization in a romantic relationship negatively affects adolescents' well-being and has been related to stress, anxiety, less satisfaction with life, poor academic achievement, low self-esteem, substance abuse, and eating disorders [30,31,33,36,37]. Positive correlations among different forms of offline DV victimization (physical, verbal-emotional, and relational) have been observed [38], and it has also been suggested that being victimized in one social context increases the probability of being victimized in other social contexts, which could increase the possibility of suffering poly-victimization [39][40][41][42][43][44].…”

The Role of Family Relationships in Eating Disorders in Adolescents: A Narrative Review

“…The author describes a family organization characterized by an intrusive, intolerant, and hypercritical mother and by a father who is often brilliant but absent from the family. In this type of environment, where there is no real emotional support, the patient expresses her discomfort through an abnormal and provocative eating behavior, which on the one hand allows her to obtain a form of control and self-affirmation in her relationship with her family, but on the other hand leads her to a further confirmation of her position of dependence and loneliness [47,48].…”

Personal distress as a mediator between self-esteem, self-efficacy, loneliness and problematic video gaming in female and male emerging adult gamers

“…Moreover, emerging adults engage in a variety of social interactions related to work and love life [17,18,41]. Therefore romantic relationships can be an important source of well-being for emerging adults [51]. However, the satisfaction of an intimate relationship is associated with empathy [52–54].…”