Romantic Relationships and Mental Health Outcomes During Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Dear Colleagues,

Romantic relationships play a critical role in shaping the lives and experiences of adolescents and young adults, exerting significant influence on their social integration, mental health outcomes, and identity formation. These formative experiences often have enduring implications, shaping health trajectories and interpersonal dynamics well into adulthood. Examining the links between youths’ romantic relationships and their health outcomes is critical for understanding the evolving nature of romantic partnerships and their implications for long-term well-being across the life course. The effects that romantic relationships have on later well-being are not uniform; they vary across individuals and groups, shaped by broader societal contexts and individual sociodemographic characteristics.

In recent decades, scholars in many countries have also noted an increasing diversity and complexity in the patterns and trajectories of young peoples’ romantic relationships, with contemporary youth generally experiencing greater freedom to engage in sexual and romantic exploration than ever before. As a result, a growing number of youth are pursuing interracial/interethnic relationships and relationships that include same-sex or same-gender partners. These relationships present both new opportunities and challenges in societies like the U.S. that continue to exhibit ambivalence toward mixed-race/ethnic and same-sex partnerships. While we have seen a widening of opportunities for romantic exploration, data also suggest that youth are progressively delaying entry into romantic relationships, with a significant drop in dating and sexual initiation during the teen years. Many factors may underlie these trends, including a general reduction in socializing outside of the home, an increase in parental oversight, and a rise in the use of technologies like social media and AI companions, which can serve to replace one-on-one and in-person interactions with peers.

This Special Issue aims to explore the patterns, determinants, and mental health-related outcomes of romantic involvement during adolescence and young adulthood. The formation, quality, and duration of romantic relationships among youth are shaped by many influences, including familial, peer, educational, religious, and broader sociocultural contexts. These factors, along with other intersecting sociodemographic characteristics, exert both direct and indirect effects on the health and well-being of young people engaged in romantic relationships.

We invite submissions from a range of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, social work, and interdisciplinary fields focused on intimate relationships. Both original research articles and reviews are welcome. Areas of interest may include but are not limited to the following: changing trends in romantic relationship engagement and relationship-related mental health outcomes among youth; the changing social contexts that shape youths’ relationship-related behavior; the role of social media and technology in relationship experiences; interracial/interethnic relationships; same-sex partnerships; and life course health implications of relationship experiences during adolescence and young adulthood.

Dr. Byron Miller
Prof. Dr. Kathryn Tillman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• adolescents
• young adults
• youth
• romantic relationships
• dating
• marriage
• cohabitation
• sexual activity
• mental health
• lifecourse