Thematic analysis of the children's conception of romantic love

Unatoč rastućem interesu istraživača za temu ljubavi, o romantičnoj ljubavi u dječjoj dobi se jako malo zna, posebice o dječjem poimanju ljubavi. Kako bismo dobili uvid u dječja vjerovanja i očekivanja od ljubavi, odlučili smo se za kvalitativni pristup. Proveli smo intervjue sa 26-ero djece prosječne dobi 9 godina iz dviju Zagrebačkih osnovnih škola. Tematskom analizom njihovih odgovora izdvojili smo 9 tema koje opisuju njihova vjerovanja o romantičnoj ljubavi. Izdvojene teme smo na temelju impliciranog stava prema ljubavi svrstali u tri šire kategorije: romantični, realistični i razvojni stav. Romantični stav obuhvatio je tri teme: To ne bira pamet nego srce, Najvažnije je voljeti se i Ljubav kao osnovna ljudska potreba. Realistični stav uključuje teme: Sve je to relativno, Ljubav nije idealna, Sve je lako kad si mlad i Reproduktivna uloga ljubavi. Naposljetku, razvojni stav očituje se u dvije teme: Da bi ljubav trajala potrebno se truditi i Ljubav se temelji na bliskosti. Suprotno uvriježenom mišljenju da su dječja vjerovanja o ljubavi nerealistična i stoga besmislena za istraživanje, djeca su u ovom istraživanju iskazala prevladavajuće realistično poimanje ljubavi. Nalazi ovog istraživanja, osim što nude uvid u do sada neistraživano područje, upućuju na smislenost i potrebu daljnjih istraživanja ove teme.Despite the growing interest of researchers on the topic of love, we still know very little about romantic love in childhood, especially the children's understanding of love. To gain insight into children's beliefs and expectations of love, we opted for a qualitative approach. We conducted interviews with 26 children with an average age of nine years from two Zagreb’s elementary schools. Through thematic analysis of their responses we have extract 9 themes that describe their beliefs about romantic love. Featured themes are on the basis of an implied attitude toward love, divided into three broad categories: romantic, realistic and developmental view. Romantic attitude included three themes: It’s not chosen by mind but the heart, The most important thing is to love each other and Love as a basic human need. Realistic attitude involves themes: It's all relative, Love is not ideal, It's all easy when you're young and Reproductive role of love. Finally, developmental attitudes is reflected into two themes: To make love last you need to make an effort and Love is based on intimacy. Contrary to popular beliefs that children's views about love are unrealistic and therefore pointless for any kind of research, the children in this study expressed the prevailing realistic conception of love. The findings of this research, in addition to offering an insight into the previously uninvestigated area, are also pointing to the significance and the need for further exploration of this topic