Millennials Experience of Romantic Relationships During the Period of Emerging Adulthood
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Millennials Experience of Romantic Relationships during the period of Emerging Adulthood in Relation to Attachment Style: A Qualitative Study Thesis By Judith Bradley Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts In Psychology The University of New York in Prague SUNY Empire State College 2020 Declaration. I hereby declare that I wrote this thesis individually based on literature and resources stated in references section. 9th April 2020. Judith Bradley 2 Acknowledgements. I would first like to thank my mentor Dr Ronnie Mather for his support and encouragement throughout this process. A special thank you also to Mr Vartan Agopian, for his guidance on the writing process and being a constant source of motivation from beginning to end. I would also like to extend my gratitude to everyone who participated and shared their personal experiences in such an honest way, I cannot thank you enough for having the courage to share your intimate experiences with me, this research would not have been possible without you. I am forever thankful to my parents for being there to support, guide and reassure me in reaching my academic goals. 3 Abstract Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine millennials experience of romantic relationships during the period of emerging adulthood in relation to attachment style. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five participants including three females and two males. The questions were related to aspects of romantic relationships including conflict and satisfaction and openness towards consensual non-monogamy (CNM). Participants were assessed on the attachment style and all answers were analysed in relation to this theory. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data and develop common themes in millennials experience of romantic relationships. Results: The results showed that millennials have more liberal attitudes towards and experience of CNM than previous generations. CNM is a method by which millennials explore their sexuality and maintain their freedom. Attachment style influences romantic relationship attitudes and behaviours of this group. Secure attachment had lowest levels of conflict, highest levels of satisfaction and high levels of openness towards CNM, however unlike previous studies, dismissive-avoidant individuals were unwilling to engage in CNM because this would impact on positive views of self and cause conflict within romantic relationships. This study confirmed that individuals with anxious-preoccupied attachment have positive attitudes towards CNM and are motivated to engage in this because it fulfils their high intimacy needs. However, this can cause conflict when they feel threated of losing their partners assurance or approval. 4 Table of Content. 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………6 2. Literature Review……………………………………………………………...8 1.1.1. Millennials…………………………………………………………8 1.1.2. EmergingAdulthood………………………………………………10 1.1.3. AttachmentTheory……..…………………………………………12 1.1.4. Relationship conflict and satisfaction……………………………..17 1.1.5. Consensual non-monogamy...……………………………………..21 1.1.6. Importance of understanding millennials experience of romantic relationships for psychological wellbeing…………………….26 3. Methodology…………………………………………………………………..28 3.1. Aim……………………………………………………………………28 3.2. Rationale for Qualitative Research……………………………………29 3.3. Research Design………………………………………………………30 3.4. Participants……………………………………………………………30 3.5. Materials………………………………………………………………31 3.5.1. Demographic information…………………………………..31 3.6. Participant recruitment………………………………………………..31 3.7. Protection of participants……………………………………………...32 3.8. Data Collection Procedures……………………………………………32 3.9. Data Analysis………………………………………………………….34 4. Results………………………………………………………………………….35 4.1. Romantic partner conflict management and attachment style…………36 4.1.1. Secure attachment conflict management……………………36 4.1.2. Dismissive-avoidant attachment conflict management…….36 4.1.3. Fearful-avoidant attachment conflict management…………38 4.1.4. Anxious-Preoccupied attachment conflict management…….39 4.2. Attachment and openness to consensual non-monogamy…………….39 4.2.1. Secure attachment and CMN……………………………….39 5 4.2.2. Dismissive-avoidant attachment and CNM……………..42 4.2.3. Fearful- avoidant attachment and CNM…………………42 4.2.4. Anxious-preoccupied attachment and CNM…………….43 4.3. Attachment and relationship satisfaction and commitment……….44 4.3.1. Secure attachment, satisfaction and commitment……….44 4.3.2. Dismissive-avoidant attachment and relationship satisfaction and commitment…………………………..45 4.3.3. Fearful-avoidant attachment and relationship satisfaction and commitment…. ………………………46 4.3.4. Anxious-preoccupied attachment and relationship satisfaction and commitment…………………………..47 5. Discussion……………………………………………………………..48 6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………….53 6.1. Summary…………………………………………………53 6.2. 6.2. Implications and limitations…………………………53 References…………………………………………………………….55 6 1. Introduction This study will focus on millennial’s experience of romantic relationships, during the period of Emerging Adulthood and how this is influenced by individual attachment style. Attachment theory in psychology has received a great deal of attention in research over the past four decades and the literature demonstrates that an individual’s attachment style will significantly impact on their close relationships and other important areas of their life. The differing styles have implications for an individual’s experience of forming and maintaining relationships throughout their life and ultimately their psychological wellbeing. Historically, attachment theory has been applied to infant and primary caregiver relationships, and it is believed that forming attachments in infancy sets the foundation for all future relationships. Some attachment styles are characterised as more psychologically healthy than others. For example, secure attachment is associated with many positive outcomes, including healthy brain development in terms of judgment, decision-making and reasoning, which are important skills to develop to minimise risk of psychological dysfunction throughout the life course. Furthermore, secure attachment is also linked with positive outcomes in social and emotional development in terms of developing empathy, trusting others, and emotional regulation which predicts behaviour. In recent years, the study of attachment theory has turned its attention to attachment styles in adulthood and the impact this has on an individual’s ability to form and maintain personal and romantic relationships. This is a relatively new research area, but a substantial body of literature exists which indicates that adult attachment styles are important factors which 7 impact upon a person’s ability to form satisfying, healthy and long-lasting, intimate relationships with others. From a psychological perspective it is important to understand this complex relationship between attachment style and the behaviours associated with this as it can have a significant impact upon a person’s psychological functioning and ultimately quality of life. This study will specifically examine individual attachment styles in relation to experience in romantic relationships during the period of emerging adulthood. The period of emerging adulthood has recently been identified as a new developmental stage between adolescence and reaching full adulthood. Currently, the millennial generation are in the emerging adulthood stage of their lives and for many this includes reaching many important milestones in their lives including forming romantic attachments to others. The millennial generation in many ways have created different types of romantic relationships which were perhaps not the norm in previous generations. For many young adults, romantic relationships are an integral part of their lives and therefore have the potential to impact on their psychological functioning. It is important, as future psychological practitioners, to understand the complexities of millennial’s romantic attachments in order to provide the most effective, supportive service and treatment to our clients when it is needed. In order to understand these new emerging relationship dynamics and how this is influenced by attachment styles it is necessary to conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with participants. This study will have five participants, who will be asked questions on their experience of romantic relationships in regards to three areas including; satisfaction, conflict and attitude towards consensual non-monogamy. The author will use interpretive 8 phenomenological analysis to analyse the data and develop themes which best depict the experience of millennials romantic relationships. The findings of this study will deepen our understanding of the role of attachment styles in adult romantic relationships and highlight how romantic relationships are evolving through the generations which has implications for future therapeutic practice. 2. Literature Review 2.1. Millennials. The millennial generation are the cohort of people born during the 1980’s up to the millennial. The term millennials was first coined by Strauss & Howe (1991), and is used to refer to individuals born between 1982- 2004, who would reach adulthood around the turn of the 21st century. At present, there is no consensus for the exact dates of birth which constitute an individual as a millennial and depending