Does Relationship Conflict Predicts Psychological Distress or Vice Versa? A Cross-Lagged Panel Model

The present study examines the directionality of links between romantic relationship conflict and psychological distress in premarital relationships of emerging adults. A total of 182 participants (Mage = 21.23; SDage = 1.62; 85.16% female) provided data at both Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2). Participants responded to a battery of questions related to romantic relationship conflict and psychological distress. The data for the present study were collected at two time points during spring semester of 2018: First week (Time 1) and the last week of the semester, Week 14 (Time 2). A two-wave two variable cross-lagged autoregressive panel model was conducted to examine the links between relationship conflict and psychological distress over time in emerging adults. Using a latent cross-lagged panel model, we found that romantic relationship conflict at T1 significantly predicted psychological distress at T2, but psychological distress at T1 was not associated with subsequent romantic relationship conflict at T2, after controlling for autoregressive effects. The results highlighted the key role of romantic relationship conflict in predicting later psychological distress. Limitations and implications are discussed and future directions are suggested.

Towards Sexual Education: Moroccan Youth’s Perception Between Globality and Islam

In this research, the nation-state forces certain archaic cultural forms and practices on the current youth population. This is a result of the lack of adequate communication between the state and the Moroccan youth. Thus, Morocco continues to press on teaching abstinence-only sex programs since 2005. This research attempts to Bridge the gap of communication through articulating Moroccan youth’s perceptions and their relation with globalization and religion. The first part of the Analysis argues that globalization shapes sexual education is received. The positive perception of sexual education is due to glocality since the individual youth identifies with the western culture he or she witnesses on media and the internet. This leads to an urge to experiencing sex outside of marriage. The negative perception of sexual education is due to grobality, yet this is a minority within the sample. In the second part, participants perceive Islam to be for sexual education. Then, there is a need for sexual safety especially since youth are already engaging in premarital intercourses. Sexual education would keep them away from STDs and pregnancies out of wedlock. Thus, the Moroccan youth’s perception favors sexual education and seeks to implement it as a means of dealing with premarital relationships.

The impact of historical realities of the 1920s of the 20th century on premarital personal relationships of the ukrainian youth

Political, economic and social experiments carried out in the 1920s of the 20th century were studied by many specialists. However, there has been a lack of publications devoted to the impact of historical realities of that period on premarital personal relationships of the Ukrainian youth. On the basis of literature, mass media and archival sources, the influence of the Revolution and that time social realities on the premarital personal relationships of the Ukrainian youth is considered. Attention is paid to the influence of the theories of “free love” and “a glass of water” on personal relationships of boys and girls. It is concluded that political, economic and social experiments of the Bolsheviks significantly influenced the premarital relationships of the Ukrainian youth. In the youth circles, the theories of “free love” and “a glass of water” became popular. Under their influence, the centuries-old traditions of premarital relationships between boys and girls were significantly distorted; a crackdown was had on the institution of the family, traditional understanding of the responsibility of parents for upbringing of their children. The new state simplified the registration of marriage and divorce procedure to a minimum. At the same time, in the village where the absolute majority of the Ukrainians lived, new visions of premarital relationships were not widely spread. There the premarital relationships of young people were preserved mainly in traditional forms, which presupposed creation of family couples within their social stratum. But in cities, a certain part of young people rushed to establishing “new” personal relationships between boys and girls. Primarily, they were the members of the Komsomol. On the basis of those “new” relationships extreme frivolity and banal immorality could not but grow. In the new vision of premarital personal relationships the authorities brought the thesis of an unconditional primacy of the interests of the political regime instead of the personal feelings of the beloved. That thesis was actually acknowledged to be fundamental and persistently promoted by the authorities.

Premarital relationships and condom use among young people in Suva, Fiji

Background Young people in Fiji experience high rates of sexually transmissible infections and early pregnancy. Despite being identified as a key priority group in national strategies, little is known about use of condoms among young people in premarital relationships. This study aimed to enhance understandings of premarital sex and condom use practices among young people in Fiji. Methods: Focus group discussions with 33 young women and men aged 18–29 years and 17 interviews with young women aged 18–26 years in an urban setting in Fiji were conducted. Inductive thematic analysis examined condom use practices. Results: Participants described a range of contextual influences inhibiting or enabling condom use. Factors inhibiting condom use included sociocultural expectations regarding premarital abstinence; young people’s engagement in hidden sexual relationships; limited intergenerational dialogue about sexual health issues; judgmental attitude of staff at condom access points; male dominance of condom use preferences; and belief condoms disrupt intimacy, reduce sexual pleasure and infer a lack of trust. Factors that enhanced condom use included accessing condoms through discreet methods; adult beliefs that supported safe sex practices; and refusing to have sex without a condom. Conclusion: Findings broaden understandings of young people’s condom use practices in Suva, Fiji. The findings illustrate the need for culturally appropriate youth-centred sexual and reproductive health (SRH) programs and services. Specific strategies that might enhance young people’s condom use include community- and youth-led responses; peer condom distribution; provision of condom dispensers in community settings; scaling up of youth-friendly SRH services; and the delivery of comprehensive sexuality and relationships education.

Pressure and Persuasion: Young Fijian Women’s Experiences of Sexual and Reproductive Coercion in Romantic Relationships

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a violation of women’s human rights and dramatically increases women’s vulnerability to sexual and reproductive health morbidities. This article examines young iTaukei (Indigenous Fijian) women’s experiences of, and responses to, nonphysical forms of coercion in romantic relationships. It draws on ethnographic research with young unmarried women attending university in Suva, Fiji. Young women disclosed experiencing a continuum of coercive behaviors, including verbal pressure, deception, and manipulation by male partners to initiate sexual intercourse, unprotected sex, and unsafe abortions. Findings indicate an urgent need to address IPV within premarital relationships in Fiji to promote young women’s sexual and reproductive health and autonomy.

«No money, no honey»? Poverty and young men’s unmarried relationships in urban Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, the expectation that a young man has to financially support his girlfriend is deeply rooted in gender norms and is a keystone of masculinity construction. With the persistent economic crisis, high unemployment rates, and the growing importance of materiality in intimate relationships, this economic obligation seems more and more difficult to fulfil, however. Qualitative studies have reported the frustration of unemployed and poorer young men in West African cities who face difficulties in attracting girlfriends due to their economic condition. This sexual marginalization of poorer city-dwellers, suggested by anthropological evidence, has yet to be explored quantitatively. This is the purpose of the study. Based on unique life history data collected from young adults in 2010 in the capital city of Ouagadougou, the present research examines the impact of poverty on young men’s sexual relationship histories. Although they engage in a number of premarital relationships, results suggest that young men in Ouagadougou are not equal in the search for sexual partners. The study provides support for the «sexual marginalization hypothesis» and shows that other things being equal, unemployed males and uneducated young men are significantly less likely than their better-off counterparts to engage in relationships over time

Perfection: Committed Relationships and John Wesley

Committed unmarried relationships include being engaged and some forms of cohabitation and dating. Committed unmarried relationships place a premium on avoiding divorce. Christians emphasize their ideals about marriage in their discussions of premarital relationships. Those ideals foster anxiety that is unhelpful for Christian life and may, in fact, support exactly a climate ripe for divorce. John Wesley, the 18th-century founder of the Methodist movement, offers a view of Christian perfection that is an antidote to contemporary anxiety about marriage. He also brings wisdom from his own near-engagements and engagements, to show us that premarital committed relationships can be imperfect—or rather, help us understand perfection in more godly ways.