Romance and Religion in College: The Predictors of Quality in College Romantic Relationships

The primary goal of the current study was to investigate the influence of religion, conflict, sex, and duration on the quality of romantic relationships in college. The transition period of college lends itself to new opportunities and experiences in which young adults learn to express themselves within different types of romantic relationships. One aspect of college that influences these relationships is the emerging “hookup” culture, leading to relationships being less of a norm in college settings. Another influence of college is the diversity of students within the college setting, yielding higher rates of intercultural (or in the case of this study, interfaith) relationships between students. There is little research about how interfaith relationships in college fair in contrast to intrafaith relationships. Thus, the current study was designed to address the gap in the literature on how religious similarity factors into overall relationship quality, along with sexual intimacy, conflict, and duration of relationship. Results reveal that religious similarity and overall religiosity do not influence the quality of relationships in college. However conflict and duration were found to negatively influence the quality of relationships and sexual intimacy showed a strong positive influence on the quality of relationships in college. This study uncovers the predictors of quality in romantic relationships in a college environment