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Social Sciences
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Intimate Relationships in Diverse Social and Cultural Contexts
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Intimate Relationships in Diverse Social and Cultural Contexts

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760). This special issue belongs to the section "Family Studies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2025 | Viewed by 746

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pan Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chinese and Asian Studies, The School of Humanities and Languages, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture (ADA), The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: intercultural marriage and migration; gender, love, marriage and family in China; dating, singles studies; Chinese media and communication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. William Jankowiak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA
Interests: cultural anthropology; urban anthropology; psychological anthropology; human sexuality; romantic love; family systems; human universals; Mormon fundamentalist polygamy (China, Inner Mongolia)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, we have witnessed the convergence of rapid economic development, technological breakthroughs (particularly digital technology and artificial intelligence), and shifting demographics (i.e., rising singles, declining marriages and births, surging divorces, and accelerated aging), which has had a strong impact on social and personal relationships—diverse forms of intimate relationships emerged, such as digital/virtual intimacies, simulated romance, growing intergenerational ties, and kinship intimacy, living-apart-together relationships, polyamorous relationships, companionship marriages, and co-parenting partnerships. More recently, a growing number of countries witnessed the emergence of intimate engagement between human and non-human, exemplified by the rising popularity of chatbot partners, sex dolls, virtual lovers, and holograms. These intimate relationships feature the intertwinement of love, monetary transactions, entertainment, power, labour, adventure, and other motives. These new dynamics both challenged and redefined traditional notions of love, romance, and commitment, highlighting changing gender relations, family structure, and cultural norms.

This Special Issue aims to build a forum for scholars to discuss and debate intimate relationships in various social and cultural contexts. Studies could explore emerging types of intimate relationships in specific social and cultural contexts, the ways in which intimate relations are (re)formed, (re)defined, evolved, and destroyed, and the unique intersections of intimacy and geographic location, gender, class, ethnicity, and power, and other socioeconomic factors. We call for studies from a wide range of fields, including anthropology, criminology, geography, history, political science, psychology, social policy, social work, sociology, and interdisciplinary studies of intimate relationships. Both original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The history of intimate relationships;
  • Media construction of intimate relationships;
  • Intimate expressions and behaviours;
  • Intimacy and inequality;
  • Transnational/cross-cultural intimate relationships;
  • Kinship and intergenerational ties;
  • Theories of intimate relationships;
  • The intimacy business/services;
  • Digital intimacies;
  • Courtship and mate selection;
  • Queer intimacies;
  • Same-sex marriage;
  • Conflicts, violence, and abuse in intimate relationships;
  • Relationship breakdown, separation, and divorce.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Pan Wang
Prof. Dr. William Jankowiak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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.

Keywords

  • intimacy
  • love
  • courtship
  • sex
  • marriage
  • emotion
  • romance
  • affection
  • partnership
  • relationship

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 490 KiB  
Article
Economic Development and Marriage Stability: Evidence for a Concave Relationship Between per Capita Income and Divorce Rate
by Menelaos Apostolou
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(8), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14080466 - 28 Jul 2025
Viewed by 44
Abstract
When the economy grows, people become wealthier and more autonomous from their intimate partners. This autonomy potentially has a negative impact on relationship stability: As per capita income increases, so does the divorce rate. Nevertheless, there is evidence that, after a certain income [...] Read more.
When the economy grows, people become wealthier and more autonomous from their intimate partners. This autonomy potentially has a negative impact on relationship stability: As per capita income increases, so does the divorce rate. Nevertheless, there is evidence that, after a certain income level, the divorce rate starts to decline, suggesting that the relationship between the two factors is not linear. The purpose of the current research is to examine the relationship between per capita income and divorce rate by analyzing historical data from the UK (obtained from the UK Office of National Statistics) and USA (obtained from the CDC and the Federal Reserve), as well as contemporary data encompassing a sample of 107 societies (obtained from the World Population Review and the World Bank). Our analysis finds a concave relationship between the two variables: an increase in per capita income corresponds to a rise in the divorce rate. However, beyond a certain threshold, the increase in per capita income is associated with a decrease in the divorce rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intimate Relationships in Diverse Social and Cultural Contexts)
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10 pages, 343 KiB  
Article
Voluntary Singlehood in a Greek-Speaking Cohort: Different Priorities and Giving Up Intimate Relationships as Reasons for Singlehood
by Menelaos Apostolou and Timo Juhani Lajunen
Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(8), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14080462 - 25 Jul 2025
Viewed by 149
Abstract
People frequently choose not to be in an intimate relationship, but the reasons behind this choice vary. In the current study, we analyzed a dataset pooled from previous studies, consisting of 3226 Greek-speaking participants, 357 of whom were voluntarily single, to estimate the [...] Read more.
People frequently choose not to be in an intimate relationship, but the reasons behind this choice vary. In the current study, we analyzed a dataset pooled from previous studies, consisting of 3226 Greek-speaking participants, 357 of whom were voluntarily single, to estimate the occurrence of different types of voluntary singlehood. We found that the largest subgroup, accounting for more than 60% of cases, consisted of individuals who indicated that they preferred to be single because they had different priorities. This was followed by those who indicated that they had given up on trying to attain an intimate relationship, comprising more than 26% of cases. Furthermore, about 13% of voluntarily single participants indicated that they were in this group for “other” reasons. Additionally, we found that participants in the different priorities group were single significantly longer than participants in the group who had given up on finding an intimate relationship. No significant sex differences were detected in the occurrence rates of the two types of voluntary singlehood. Moreover, younger participants were significantly more likely to indicate that they had different priorities than that they had given up on finding intimate relationships. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intimate Relationships in Diverse Social and Cultural Contexts)
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