ABSTRACT
Reliance on peer relationships increases dramatically as individuals traverse the uncertain paths of adolescence and early adulthood. The chapter focuses on male-female romantic relationships, adolescence and early adulthood are often the time when gays and lesbians first experience same-sex romantic relationships. To understand problems such as these, it is helpful to remember that these early romantic relationships emerge as part of a larger transition in social network structure. The data collection mirrored the materials and procedures used to study adolescent friendships. Subjects completed a series of surveys containing both relational measures and reports on their own network as well as their partner's network. The analysis of the data also mirrored the analysis of the data on friendships. Direct measures were linked to factors that were, in turn, related to each other using confirmatory factor analysis. Participants reported on a current romantic relationship.
