The Romantic Lives of Emerging Adults

Emerging adults are taking a longer time to construct their identities, including commitment to partners, and they are doing so in the context of an unpredictable, shifting global economy with a paucity of guidelines to inform their choices. While popular wisdom suggests they are narcissistic, entitled, easily distracted, self-absorbed, and impatient, traits that certainly do not position them to be "successful" romantic partners, this book presents alternative perspectives that are grounded in theory and practice. It articulates the tensions between opposing dynamics, the desire for a committed, trusting, long-term relationship, and the need to protect oneself and continue to grow as an individual in the event that such a relationship never materializes.