What ever happened to dating? This is a question I have been asking as a researcher, clinician, and educator for the past decade. In my most recent blog post about just talking, I discussed a significant change in the way emerging adults (18 to 29-year-olds)…
Emerging adulthood is a time of life characterized by decision-making in romantic relationships. Most emerging adults (18 to 29-year-olds) utilize this time for romantic and sexual exploration with ambitions and expectations for marriage (see Millennial Marriage or The Marriage Paradox). Scholars such as Drs. Scott Stanley and Galena Rhoades have argued that…
On April 5th, our research team attended the Illinois Council on Family Relations 2024 Annual Conference hosted at Northern Illinois University (NIU) DeKalb, Illinois. The Illinois Council on Family Relations is a state affiliate of the National Council on Family Relations. This was the first…
On June 15th through 17th, Dr. Sibley, Stephanie Lipira, Jessica Lopez, Katherine Smail, and myself had the pleasure of presenting some of our research at the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) 2023 Conference in San Diego, California, at the Hyatt Regency Mission…
On April 18th eight members of our research team attended the Undergraduate Research and Artistry Day (URAD 2018) at Northern Illinois University to present our research on Pre-dating relationships and the ever-increasing age at first marriage. As a research team we specifically explore decision-making in…
As we know, technology is a powerful foundation for communication and has become more advanced and prevailing over the years. We often wonder on our research team how technology is affecting emerging adults (18-29 years old) relationship formation and satisfaction. After all, research suggests that…
When I first heard about new book iGen: Why today’s super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy– and completely unprepared for adulthood (and what this means for the rest of us), I was initially defensive. This book has been widely promoted…
Besides presenting at state and national conferences, as a research team we look forward to opportunities to present our research on campus during the semester. We excitedly were able to present our research in the summer semester! On Friday August 11th, two members of our…
Not only has the advent of smartphones and social media substantially changed the dating landscape, this technology has also made it much easier to get in and out of relationships. Certain features in smartphones and social media (Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) allow an individual to…
A great shift in the dating landscape has occured in the past 6-7 years. With the advent of smartphones and social media, emerging adults (18-29 years old) are not only communicating in new ways, but this technology has had a profound impact on the formation…
On April 25th five of the research members presented at the Northern Illinois University Undergraduate Research and Artistry Day (URAD). It all started with volunteers from the team to dedicate time to create our poster for URAD 2017. We collaborated with Dr. Sibley to make…
On April 6th, seven members of our research team attended the Illinois Council on Family Relations 2017 Annual Conference in Normal, Illinois to present our research on our paper titled “Proceed with Caution: how emerging adults are testing the waters in just talking romantic relationships”.…