National Symposium on Family Issues

Romance and Sex in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: Risks and Opportunities

The chapters in this volume are based on the presentations and discussions from the twelfth annual National Symposium on Family Issues, held at the Pennsylvania State University October 12-13, 2004.

Citation
Crouter, Ann C. and Alan Booth (2005). Romance and Sex in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: Risks and Opportunities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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Today's young people encounter markedly different choices about family formation than their parents' generation did. Cohabitation is on the rise. Divorce continues to affect almost half of all unions. Families are having fewer children. These demographic trends are yoked in important ways, and they provide a backdrop against which young people form and maintain romantic and sexual relationships in adolescence and emerging adulthood. The 2004 symposium focused on the nature and origins of contemporary patterns of sexual and romantic relationships, including the broad, evolutionary, cultural, and historical roots of these behaviors, as well as ways in which early family and peer relationships give rise to romantic relationships in the late adolescent and early adult years; how early romantic and sexual relationships influence individuals' subsequent development and life choices, including family formation; and whether or not current trends in romantic and sexual relationships in adolescence and emerging adulthood are problematic for individuals, families, and communities, and, if so, what are the most effective ways to address this complex set of issues.

Key Topics

1. What are the evolutionary origins of contemporary patterns of sexual and romantic relationships? Where does evolution leave off and where do history and culture begin?

Lead Speaker: Helen E. Fisher, Rutgers University

Discussants:

• Bonnie L. Barber, Murdoch University, Australia
• David P. Schmitt, Bradley University
• Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington

2. How do early family and peer relationships give rise to the quality of romantic relationships in adolescence and young adulthood?

Lead Speakers: W. Andrew Collins, University of Minnesota, and Manfred van Dulmen, Kent State University

Discussants:

• Stephanie Coontz, Evergreen State University
• Kara Joyner, Cornell University
• Mary Campa, Cornell University
• Chalandra Bryant, The Pennsylvania State University
• B. Bradford Brown, University of Wisconsin

3. How do early romantic and sexual relationships influence people contemporaneously and later in life?

Lead Speakers: Peggy Giordano, Wendy D. Manning, and Monica A. Longmore, Bowling Green State University

Discussants:

• Velma McBride Murray, University of Georgia, Athens
• Tera R. Hurt, University of Georgia, Athens
• Steven M. Kogan, University of Georgia, Athens
• Zupei Luo, University of Georgia, Athens
• Anastasia Snyder, The Pennsylvania State University
• Wyndol Furman, University of Denver
• Laura Shaffer Hand, Augusta State University

4. To what extent are current trends in sexual and romantic relationships problematic for individuals, families, and society? What are effective intervention approaches at the level of practice, program, and policy?

Lead Speakers: Jennifer Manlove, Kerry Franzetta, Suzanne Ryan, and Kristin Moore, Child Trends

Discussants:

• Joseph Hotz, University of California, Los Angeles
• Dawn Upchurch, University of California, Los Angeles
• Yasamin Kusunoki, University of California, Los Angeles

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