Adolescent Marital Expectations and Romantic Experiences: Associations With Perceptions About Parental Conflict and Adolescent Attachment Security1

This study tested associations between adolescent perceptions of interparental conflict, adolescent attachment security with parents, and adolescent marital expectations and romantic experiences. Participants were 96 early adolescent females from 2 parent families. Insecurity was examined as a mediator of the association between negative perceptions of parental conflict and romantic outcomes. Results supported the mediation model in which adolescents’ negative perceptions of parental conflict was associated with insecure attachment with parents, which was in turn associated with negative marital expectations and romantic experiences. Implications for understanding how parent–adolescent and interparental variables influence adolescent marital expectations and romantic experiences are discussed.