Romantic Competence and Courtship Skills: From the First Romantic Impulse to the Management of Mutuality

Abstract

Introduction: When adolescents have their first romantic experiences and start to form couples for the first time, these arenormative practices which provide them with company, support and intimacy. However, the protagonists can also find themstressful and, at times, complicated. Romantic competence (RC) consists of a set of individual and mutual skills which are usedto facilitate our emotional and social lives. In this study, we aim to deepen our knowledge about how RC is used, and thepatterns or profiles present in the use of these skills.Methods: 2,400 Spanish adolescents (47.7% girls) between the ages of 12 and 18 took part in the study. A confirmatory factoranalysis divided RC into individual or mutual competences, and, using cluster analysis, established three clearly defined profilesto describe the protagonists: ineffective in procedural and mutual management skills; ineffective in procedural skills andcompetent in mutual management skills; and competent in procedural and mutual management skills. The main discrimi-nating factors for defining these profiles were age and romantic experience.Results: The results show that older adolescents with more romantic experience perceive themselves as being more skilled inboth individual and mutual competences, and that there is a progressive development of RC skills from initiating a relationshipto its later stages.Conclusion: Our discussion of the results hopes to shed more light on the complexity of adolescents' intimate romantic lives, aswell as to illustrate the importance of this knowledge for improving educational practices and helping prevent problems such asthe psychogenesis of gender‐based violence.