Assessing the Risk for Dating Conflict in Adolescence Using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)

Introduction: Romantic relationships often form in early adolescence, and mature in mid- and late-adolescence. While many relationships are healthy and supportive, experiencing emotional abuse and threatening behaviors is also distressingly common. This study examined how the timing of pubertal development, opportunities to engage in risky sexual behavior, and adult monitoring predict experiencing conflict in adolescent dating relationships.

Methods: The longitudinal data included in the present analysis followed participants (n= 394; 218 females; 151 Latinos) from 8^th through 10^th grades and included a mixture of self-report surveys, as well as Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data collected on four different occasions (fall, winter, and spring of 9^th grade, and the summer after 9^th grade). We assessed the relationship between gender, ethnicity, timing of pubertal development (assessed at grade 8), and self-reported opportunities to engage in risky sexual behavior in grade 9, age of oldest romantic partner by grade 9, and dating conflict (victimization of threatening behavior and emotional and verbal abuse) in grade 10. We measured opportunities to engage in risky sexual behavior via two methods: (1) assessing unsupervised time where sexual risk behavior could occur through a self-report survey; and (2) calculating the percentage of EMA prompts in which participants endorsed being with a boyfriend or girlfriend without an adult present. We hypothesized that these measures, as well as having had an older romantic partner, would be positively associated with experiences of dating conflict.

Results: Females reported more opportunities to engage in risky sexual behavior through the survey (R²=0.02), and were more likely to have had an older romantic partner by grade 9 (R²=0.08), than males. Latina/o participants were less likely to have had an older romantic partner by grade 9 (R²=0.03), and this effect was even stronger for males (R²=0.13). Less pubertally mature participants were less likely to have had an older romantic partner by grade 9 (R²=0.04). Having had an older romantic partner by grade 9 was positively associated with opportunities to engage in risky sexual behavior assessed through survey (R²=0.03) and EMA (R²=0.02). Our two measures of opportunities to engage in in risky sexual behavior were related (R²=0.15). Participants who reported more opportunities to engage in in risky sexual behavior in grade 9 by survey were more likely to experience dating conflict in grade 10 (R²=0.16).

Conclusions: Assessing the opportunities adolescents have to engage in risky sexual behaviors in a variety of ways, including via surveys and EMAs, can provide unique insights into risk factors for experiencing conflict in adolescent dating relationships.