Distress in adolescent romantic relationships

The master thesis deals with the area of adolescent romantic partner relationships. It focuses on the part that has so far been overlooked in Slovenia – the distress that young people can experience in partner relationships. A special place within this topic is occupied by the research into common forms, the extent and consequences of experiencing partner violence. In the theoretical part, the developmental-psychological division of the period is presented together with the sociological view of adolescence. In today’s society, young people face many risks, uncertainties and feelings of anxiety. At the same time, they enter into their first romantic relationships, which quite often have negative consequences as many foreign studies have shown. Due to the changes in postmodern societies, the theoretical part also presents the changes in the field of partnerships and love, both in general and in adolescence. This is followed by a description of the specific features of adolescent partner relationships and a discussion of the difficulties and the violence that can arise within partnerships. In the empirical part, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research is used. The latter is based on a sample of 310 young people (aged 16 to 25) who are currently in a partner relationship. The qualitative subsample consists of five young women who expressed their willingness to participate in a brief interview. The findings show that young people experience distress mainly because they feel a lack of support and trust from their partner, but also because they fear the end of the relationship. A lot of distress is linked to the use of digital technology, which is often used with the purpose to inflict psychological violence. Psychological violence is the most represented in sample and it is followed by experiences of sexual, physical and economic violence. The findings provide one of the first steps toward insight into the dynamics of adolescent partner relationships in Slovenia. They make it possible to see that adolescent partner relationships bring a lot of distress and are also a place where violence is experienced