Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationship Education Workshop And Its Impact On Learned Healthy Relationship Outcomes And Self-Compassion In The Emerging Adulthood Population, Ashley N. Russell

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study examined the effectiveness of the Relationship Education workshop (Davila, 2020) on several outcome measures for its target population, emerging adults. The Relationship Education workshop is comprised of two consecutive three hour sessions which take place a week apart. Participants were recruited from a southeastern state university campus. Participants were given a thorough and group-discussion based didactic focusing on the relationship competency skills of insight, mutuality, and emotion regulation with other core focuses, including relational decision making and adaptive relationship beliefs. Participants who completed the Relationship Education workshop were hypothesized to show improvement in these target domains as …

Sex, Love, And Mindfulness: Examining The Longitudinal Effects Of Mindfulness On Young Adult Dating Relationship Outcomes, Alexander Malik Khaddouma

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study examined the role of mindfulness in the relational outcomes of dating couples in order to: 1) investigate whether previously documented associations between mindfulness and relationship satisfaction extend to behavioral indicators of relationship stability cross-sectionally and longitudinally, 2) determine whether the role of mindfulness in relational outcomes differs for male and female partners, and 3) examine how male and female partners’ levels of mindfulness contribute to their own and their partners’ relational outcomes in the context of their dyadic relationship. Fourhundred and sixty-eight participants and 168 of their current dating partners (n = 655) completed baseline measures …

Breakups And Betrayals In Emerging Adulthood: A Developmental Perspective Of Relationship Dissolution And Infidelity, Jerika C. Norona

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation includes two studies that focus on romantic experiences in emerging adulthood (ages 18-25), romantic dissolution (Study 1) and extradyadic intimacy (Study 2), and their relationship with developmental and individual factors. Each study uses two unique community samples of emerging adults who have attended college as well as those who have not attended college in the past. Importantly, both studies examine romantic dissolution and extradyadic intimacy from a developmental perspective, taking into account the salient developmental tasks of independence and interdependence faced by young people. Additionally, individual factors, including perceptions of emerging adulthood (Study 1), attachment style (Study 2), …

Examining Consensual Non-Monogamy Among Emerging Adult Samples: A Collection Of Studies, Kayla Marie Sizemore

Doctoral Dissertations

Using multiple methodologies, this collection of manuscripts examined various components of CNM during the period of emerging adulthood. Manuscript one presents a systematic review and critique of the methodology used in research on CNM attitudes and desire among emerging adults between 1974 and 2016. Several methodological characteristics were reviewed across 18 empirical articles, including sample characteristics, recruitment and sampling strategy, measurement, and overall methodology and focus. Despite general commentary among researchers in this field, this review concludes that CNM research has shown little improvement with regard to its methodological limitations since the 1970’s.

The second manuscript contributes to the extant …

How Technology Interacts With Emerging Adulthood Psychosocial Developmental Tasks: An Examination Of Online Self-Presentation And Cell Phone Usage, Samantha Lynn Gray

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation outlines three distinct, yet interrelated, projects aimed at understanding the role of technology in relation to emerging adulthood developmental tasks: individuation & identity development. The first paper provides a context for understanding the developmental tasks of emerging adulthood, and the role that technology may serve in relation to those developmental tasks. This brief review of the literature on emerging adulthood developmental tasks provides a solid theoretical background and history for the theoretical premises proposed for the respective studies included in this dissertation. The second project is an empirical investigation that seeks to understand how the task of identity …