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Abstract
We build on the emerging adulthood literature to examine two forms of relationship instability, reconciliations and sex with an ex; we term these forms of relationship churning. Analyzing recent data on emerging adult daters and cohabitors (n = 792), we find that nearly half report a reconciliation (a breakup followed by reunion) and over half of those who break up continue a sexual relationship (sex with an ex). We analyze individual demographic, social psychological, and relationship factors associated with reconciliations and sex with an ex. These findings showcase that emerging adult relationships are characterized by considerable uncertainty and add to our theoretical and empirical understanding of stability in romantic relationships in emerging adulthood.
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Bios
Sarah Halpern-Meekin is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research interests include couple relationships, adolescence, relationship education, and families’ financial behaviors/attitudes.
Wendy Manning is Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University. She is a family demographer and her work focuses on the meanings, correlates, and implications of increasingly diverse and complex family and sexual relationships. She specifically studies adolescent and adult dating and sexual relationships.
Peggy Giordano is a Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. Her research focuses on relationship processes during adolescence and young adulthood, and particularly on the ways in which social relationships influence problem outcomes such as sexual risk-taking and delinquency involvement.
Monica Longmore is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. Her research interests focus on self and identity, intimate relationships, and health behaviors.
