relationships — Blog — Sage Perspectives Blog

Why do romantic relationships matter?: An account of Chinese young people in high schools

In recent decades, the UN Sustainable Development Goals have been influential in emphasizing the crucial interdependence of equity and sustainability. However, through worldwide research, researchers have noticed that there is still an existing risk of reproducing discrimination and exclusion against certain groups. Some key topics also lack sufficient discussion due to a series of limitations caused by local contexts. Sex and heterosexual romantic relationships are two culturally sensitive topics in Chinese society, especially among young people. Pre-adulthood heterosexual romantic relationships are often constructed as 'inappropriate' and 'unacceptable' due to being shaped by traditional sexual morality and constructions of 'how a good child/student should behave' in China. Consequently, understandings of sex and heterosexual romantic relationship experiences before adulthood are biased and limited.

ResearchWehida NiaziDecember 14, 2023china, gender, heterosexual, relationships

Marital Quality and Alcohol Use among Couples in Mid- and Later-Life

Alcohol use has increased among older adults, and this increase has been particularly pronounced for older women. Social relationships influence drinking decisions, and married spouses affect one another’s patterns of alcohol use over time. We set out to add to this existing knowledge by exploring how both positive and negative aspects of marital relationships affect alcohol use during mid- and later life.

ResearchMaria Pia TissotApril 16, 2023alcohol consumption, older adults, relationships

Getting back together…again

Depending on your generation, you have your own quintessential examples of relationship churning. Gen Xers asked whether Friends’ Ross and Rachel were really on a break. Millennials sang along to Taylor Swift’s “We are never, ever getting back together” and parsed whether Khloe Kardashian had gotten back together with Tristan Thompson (she did, but they broke up again). Yet, research on romantic relationships all-too-often treats couples as easily categorized as together or separated.