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Initiating, maintaining and terminating a romantic relationship during emerging adulthood in Turkey

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Abstract

The current study aims to understand the romantic experiences of Turkish emerging adults from a cultural perspective. Culture and society play an important role in the lives and romantic experiences of emerging adults. More specifically, the present study addressed the criteria for partner selection and the initiating, maintaining and terminating the romantic relationships among Turkish emerging adults. Consensual qualitative research (CQR) was used as the research method. Participants of the study were selected via purposive sampling. The participants of the study were 25 emerging adults (12 female and 13 male) whose ages range between 19 and 26 years. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted in order to collect data. Data analysis revealed several categories within four domains of romantic experiences. The first domain, namely partner choice involved eight categories. Second domain, namely initiating a romantic relationship involved four categories. The third domain, namely maintaining a romantic relationship involved five categories. Final domain, namely termination of a romantic relationship involved three categories. The results of this study suggest that emerging adults consider various personal, relational and cultural factors in each stage of their romantic relationships.

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Data Availability

The data used in the research cannot be shared with any person because of the ethical concerns relating to confidentiality and anonymity of the participants. The materials used in the research cannot be publicly shared but are available upon request. The materials can be obtained by emailing:smrucr@gmail.com

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Acknowledgments

Portions of findings presented in this study were presented at 9th the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) Conference, in Toronto, Canada, October 10-12, 2019.

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The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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  1. Faculty of Education, Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Erciyes University, Yenidoğan, Fakülte İçi Küme Evleri, 38280, Melikgazi/Kayseri, Turkey

    Semra Uçar

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Uçar, S. Initiating, maintaining and terminating a romantic relationship during emerging adulthood in Turkey. Curr Psychol 41, 1015–1025 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01431-1

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