Summary
Weddings remain one of the most significant rites of passage for contemporary US women. Despite the popularity and importance of weddings and the symbolism of women moving from singlehood to wifehood, few family scientists have examined brides ‘ experiences of their weddings. Enactment and embodiment of bridal femininity on the wedding day, in particular, is largely missing from existing literature. Responding to this gap, using constructivist grounded theory and guided by post-structural feminist thought, we interviewed 18 US brides about their weddings. Findings revealed wedding planning and the wedding day were highly stressful with stress linked, in large part, to expectations of perfection. Brides troubleshooted potential sources of imperfection, kept imperfections hidden from their guests, and, immediately after the wedding, brides felt considerable relief from the tyranny of perfection. We consider implications that expectations of perfection pose for bridal femininity, in particular, and conventional femininity, more generally.

Objectives

• To analyze stress experienced by modern, heterosexual brides
• To uncover harmful expectations of bridal femininity, and by extension, conventional femininity
• To further critique hetero-patriarchal structures

Subject Codes: feminism, gender roles, well-being
Population Codes: emerging/young adulthood, first married, cisgender female (those whose sex assigned at birth matches their gender identity)
Method and Approach Codes: grounded theory, qualitative methodology, ethnography

Summary
We aimed to identify latent profiles of Korean women based their attitudes toward getting married and being married and examined the socio-demographic predictors. We used six items of attitudes towards marriage: early marriage, the imperativeness of marriage, similar family backgrounds, divorce due to infidelity, sexual satisfaction in marriage, and fathers’ participation in childcare. Data came from the 7th wave data (2018) of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families. Using a sample of 9,602 Korean women who were 19-78 years old and a latent profile analysis, we identified four profiles: centrist (56.9%), progressive toward getting married (27%), inconsistent between getting and being married (12.4%), and conservative (3.8%). Overall, attitudes toward getting married were diverse across the four groups, but attitudes toward being married were similar except for the conservative group. This study contributes to the literature by identifying distinct profiles of Korean women based on diverse attitudes toward marriage.

Objectives

• To identify the latent profiles of attitudes toward marriage among Korean women.
• To understand the diversity of attitudes toward marriage among Korean women.
• To understand the diversity of attitudes toward getting married and being married among Korean women.

Subject Codes: family formation, relationship formation, relationships
Population Codes: inclusive of adults, Asian/Pacific Islander, international (non-U.S.)
Method and Approach Codes: quantitative methodology, cluster analysis, diversity

Summary
Introducing a new dating partner to children has important implications for postdivorce families given that this step may be a precursor of stepfamily formation. However, parents often do not hesitate to start and introduce a new dating relationship to their children regardless of this importance. Guided by CPM (Petronio, 2010), the purpose of our study was to investigate if divorced parents’ perceived dating benefits and risksare associated with the timing of the introduction of a new dating partner to their children and the extent of sharing dating information with children. We differentiated introducing a dating partner to children from sharing dating information because being open about a new partner does not necessarily involve introducing a new dating partner to children. Findings indicate that perceived benefits and risks may guide divorced parents’ sharing dating information with children and introducing a new partner to children. Implications will be discussed.

Objectives

• * To examine the relation of the timing of the introduction of a new dating partner to their children and divorced parents’ perceptions of dating benefits and risks
• * To examine the relation of the extent of sharing dating information with children and divorced parents’ perceptions of dating benefits and risks.
• * To explore if perceived benefits and risks vary by the type of information that divorced parents share with their children

Subject Codes: family relations, communication, dating
Population Codes: marriage and family therapists/clinicians, divorced, Family Scientists
Method and Approach Codes: evidence-based practices/programs, regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical), Family Science

Summary
Understanding the diverse experiences of LGB romantic development is an important extension of current young adult relationship research. We used in-depth relationship history data to identify and analyze common aspects of romantic development among 10 LGB young adults. Using Applied Thematic Analysis, we found that secrecy, conformity, and autonomy represented a common progression from adolescence to young adulthood in LGB-identified people. This process was shaped by societal and cultural expectations, familial influence, and self-perception of sexuality and partnerships. Participants’ varied experiences further showcase the need for comprehensive, inclusive, and informed relationship education and mental health practices for LGB people.

Objectives

• To identify aspects of romantic development distinctive to LGB young adults.
• To explain romantic development for LGB young adults without comparison to heterosexual counterparts.
• To analyze the contexts (e.g., cultural, familial) that shape romantic development for LGB young adults.

Subject Codes: relationship formation, interpersonal relationships, heteronormativity
Population Codes: LGB+, emerging/young adulthood,
Method and Approach Codes: qualitative methodology, strength-based, secondary data analysis

Summary
In the present study we explored single young adults’ interest and participation in romantic activities. Data came from single young adults (N = 142, 18 to 35-years-old) who participated in a larger study on young adults’ relationship histories. Our results illustrate that there is variability in single young adults’ participation in romantic activities as well as what romantic activities they are interested in. Romantic interest was the only construct associated with romantic activity interest, romantic activities in the past month, and romantic activities from over a month ago. Understanding the diversity of experiences and attitudes of singles has important implications for supporting young adults’ development both romantically and in other domains.

Objectives

• To demonstrate the complexity of young adults' experiences with singlehood.
• To analyze how interest in relationships is related to romantic activities.
• To explain the most common romantic activities for single young adults.

Subject Codes: dating, relationship formation, relationships
Population Codes: emerging/young adulthood, diverse but not representative, single
Method and Approach Codes: regression: linear (simple, multiple, hierarchical), ,

Summary
This study aimed to explore the meaning of early marriage from the perspective of Madurese women who were married before the age of 18. Data were collected from thirty Madurese women, aged 18-45, from Sumbermalang, Situbondo, East Java, Indonesia, using a phenomenological method. The results showed that young women in this community decided to get married for reasons such as love, companionship, and happiness, arranged marriage; economic benefits; and protecting the family honor. Additionally, we also found that cultural norms and values such as honors and shame, gender expectations, and inequality were perceived to be responsible for the perpetuation of early marriage. Some implications and future research directions are also discussed, including the need to understand men’s perspective and how best to work with local ethnic communities to address this practice.

Objectives

• To explore the meaning of early marriage from the perspective of Madurese women who were married before the age of 18.
• To describe the lived experience of early married Madurese women.
• To analyze the cultural values that making sense of early marriage.

Subject Codes: mate selection, gender roles, ethics and values
Population Codes: cisgender female (those whose sex assigned at birth matches their gender identity), Islam, Moslem, Muslim, international (non-U.S.)
Method and Approach Codes: qualitative methodology, phenomenology,

Summary
A recent national study of US adults showed that 70 - 75% of participants said they would label behavior as "unfaithful" if their partner/spouse had an intimate emotional relationship with someone else without their knowledge or consent (Wilcox, Dew, & Vandenberghe, 2019). Most people want both sexual AND emotional fidelity from their spouses/partners. Unfortunately, researchers have studied emotional infidelity less than sexual infidelity. And although emotional and sexual infidelity often occur within the same affair, this is not always the case.This study adds to our understanding of infidelity in the twenty-first century byexamining the predictors of extramarital emotional affairs using a national sample of ever married individuals. Preliminary findings suggested that strict definitions of infidelity, high levels of personal religiosity, and (among currently married individuals) high levels of perceived relationship stability were negatively associated with reports of emotional infidelity.

Objectives

• Identify predictors of individual reports of emotional infidelity in a national sample of ever married individuals.
• Examine whether these predictors differ for ever married individuals who are still married relative to ever married individuals who are not currently married.
• Explore descriptive statistics regarding the overlaps of sexual and emotional affairs. Although I expect that most participants will label sexual affairs also as emotional affairs, I do expect that there will be some emotional affairs that do not have a sexual component and some sexual affairs that do not have an emotional component.

Subject Codes: infidelity, family processes, relationship quality
Population Codes: first married, remarried family, divorced
Method and Approach Codes: regression: logistic (binary, ordinal, or multinomial), quantitative methodology, secondary data analysis