A true love story: Young people’s romantic and sexual development in the context of everyday life - PhD defnece Wieke Dalenberg

Previous research on sexual development mainly focused on sexual behavior and the risks of sexual behavior, such as sexually transmitted diseases. However, sexuality is more than having sexual intercourse. To provide a complete picture of how young people develop sexually throughout adolescence, Wieke Dalenberg and colleagues focused on young people’s romantic and sexual development in the context of everyday life.

In her PhD project, Dalenberg and colleagues implemented a diary study. The project consists of four diary studies involving a total of 306 young people (12-17 years old). A segment of these young people was followed over the course of two years. In this way, the researchers were able to gain insight into young people’s emerging romantic and sexual development from the unique viewpoint of young people themselves.

One main result of the whole PhD project was that the romantic and sexual development of young people in the context of everyday life can be described as a true love story: The everyday experiences about sexuality were mainly about romantic aspects of sexuality instead of intercourse-related topics. This PhD project was an initial attempt to reveal the, normally invisible, feelings and thoughts that comprise young people’s sexual development.