NCJ Number
228621
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 38 Issue: 10 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 1282-1293
Date Published
November 2009
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study examined the impact of adolescent romantic relationships on depression and problem behaviors in a sample of 10,509 Chinese secondary students (ages 12-19, 54.5 percent female).
Abstract
Fourteen percent of the students reported having a romantic relationship in the past 12 months, and 27 percent reported ever having a romantic relationship. The percentage of boys in a romantic relationship was slightly higher than that of girls. The study found that, overall romantic relationships, especially in early adolescence, were associated with more depressive symptoms and behavioral problems, compared with students who had no romantic relationships. Breakups in romantic relationships were an important factor in adverse emotional states and behaviors. These results were stronger for those involved in romantic relationships at younger ages. Girls who were romantically involved in a relationship experienced higher levels of depressive symptoms than boys involved in romantic relationships, whereas, romantically involved boys engaged in higher levels of problem behaviors. Students were questioned on whether or not they had a romantic relationship within the past year or more than a year ago, as well as whether they had ever experienced a breakup. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), and problem behaviors were measured with the aggressive and delinquent subscales of the Youth Self-report Inventory (Achenbach and Rescorla, 2001). 2 tables, 3 figures, and 46 references