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8 - History and Cohort Effects in Romantic Relationships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2023

By
TeKisha M. Rice  and
Aran Garnett-Deakin
Edited by
Brian G. Ogolsky
Brian G. Ogolsky
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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Summary

Romantic relationships occur within a larger social, political, and historic context. Although family historians have attended to the changing social meaning and role of romantic partnering across historical time, few scholars have considered that the psychosocial meanings individuals attribute to historic events may shape romantic relationships dynamics. In this chapter, we consider how linkages between historic events and shifts in the socio-political environment of the United States may influence romantic relationships. We begin by reviewing the work of family historians before discussing theories and concepts relevant to examining romantic partnering within a historical context. We provide illustrative examples to highlight the overlap between cohort and historic effects across relationship initiation, maintenance, and dissolution. We conclude by reflecting on the conceptual and empirical challenges and possibilities associated with examining relationships from a historical perspective.

Keywords

historycohorttimeslaverygeneration
Type
Chapter
Information
The Sociocultural Context of Romantic Relationships , pp. 135 - 150
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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