Adolescent precursors of romantic relationships in young adulthood

In a six-year longitudinal study, the early contributors to romantic relati onships in young adults were analyzed. Seventy-two adolescents participated annually in a survey assessing their relationships with parents and close friends at the ages of 14, 15, and 17 years. In addition, developmental pro gression in establishing a separate identity and developing a mature body c oncept was assessed. At the age of 20, the sample was again investigated wi th a focus on its current quality of romantic relations, assessed by the Lo ve Experience Questionnaire (LEQ). Factor analysis of the LEQ revealed thre e distinctive components of romantic love in young adults: connectedness, a ttraction, and painful love. A series of multiple regression analyses explo red the different contributions of predictors from the adolescent years for explaining variance in romantic relations at young adulthood. Results show ed age-specific predictors for two different components of romantic relatio ns, connectedness and attraction, including marital status of the parents, the quality of relationships with parents, and a sense of body competence a t different stages of adolescence. Regarding painful love, only body compet ence at age 14 contributed significantly to this component of romantic love at age 20. The pressure to establish a separate identity was only predicti ve of the attraction component of romantic love, whereas the quality of rel ationships with friends did not contribute to connectedness or to attractio n or painful love in romantic relations.