Problems during a romantic relationship: Conflict identification and resolution styles in heterosexual youth

摘要

A dating or romantic relationship is supposed to be the appropriate process for the parties involved in it to develop or increase their coexistence communication and problem-solving skills. The aim of this work was to describe the main problems that occur during a dating/romantic relationship as reported by young heterosexual couples, as well as to describe the different strategies used to solve such problems. Eighty young Mexican college students who were going through a heterosexual dating relationship participated in this study. A questionnaire was conducted accordingly which included 21 questions to be answered Yes and No, Likert type of questions and open questions. The results revealed that the main problems came directly from a lack of communication and problem-solving skills. The style to solve such conflicts in a current relationship is heavily avoidant (10.29% in men and 14.70% in women of a total of 68 students who chose to answer). It has been concluded that it is necessary to implement interventions based on evidence in these type of conflicts and with this population.