Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
About us Latest news News News articles

A true love story: Young people’s romantic and sexual development in the context of everyday life - PhD defnece Wieke Dalenberg

03 November 2016

PhD ceremony: drs. W.G. (Wieke) Dalenberg
When: November 21, 2016
Start: 11:00
Promotors: prof. dr. M.C. (Greetje) Timmerman, prof. dr. P.L.C. (Paul) van Geert
Where: Academy building RUG
Faculty: Behavioural and Social Sciences

Previous research on sexual development mainly focused on sexual behavior and the risks of sexual behavior, such as sexually transmitted diseases. However, sexuality is more than having sexual intercourse. To provide a complete picture of how young people develop sexually throughout adolescence, Wieke Dalenberg and colleagues focused on young people’s romantic and sexual development in the context of everyday life.

In her PhD project, Dalenberg and colleagues implemented a diary study. The project consists of four diary studies involving a total of 306 young people (12-17 years old). A segment of these young people was followed over the course of two years. In this way, the researchers were able to gain insight into young people’s emerging romantic and sexual development from the unique viewpoint of young people themselves.

One main result of the whole PhD project was that the romantic and sexual development of young people in the context of everyday life can be described as a true love story: The everyday experiences about sexuality were mainly about romantic aspects of sexuality instead of intercourse-related topics. This PhD project was an initial attempt to reveal the, normally invisible, feelings and thoughts that comprise young people’s sexual development.

Last modified:20 June 2024 07.56 a.m.
View this page in: Nederlands

More news

  • 10 September 2024

    Picking the wrong one again and again

    Julie Karsten is researching how experiences involving sexual misconduct influence adolescents’ online choice of partner. She specifically focuses on the question of whether people who have previously been ‘perpetrator’ or ‘victim’ look for one...

  • 09 September 2024

    People with psychosis often victims of violence

    People with psychosis are much more likely to become victims of violence and crime than the general population. This is revealed in the PhD research of Bertine de Vries, which she will defend at the University of Groningen on September 19.

  • 04 September 2024

    Segregation in the workplace is growing: Top earners are increasingly working together

    Top earners are increasingly working exclusively with other highly paid colleagues, while contact with middle-income workers continues to decline.