‘‘We’re not living together:’’ Stayover relationships among college-educated emerging adults
Abstract
Rapid and widespread changes in relationship formation and dissolution over the past 50 years have revealed new patterns in romantic and sexual relationships, particularly among emerging adults. In this study, grounded theory methods were used to investigate the role of one such pattern, stayovers, in the development of romantic relationships among 22 college students and college graduates. The results indicated that some young couples stay overnight between three and seven nights per week while living in separate homes. This arrangement functioned as a comfortable and convenient alternative to forming more lasting, and therefore riskier, commitments such as full-time cohabitation and marriage. Stayovers served as a stopgap measure between casual dating and making more formal commitments.
Department
Family Studies
Publication Date
11-15-2010
Journal Title
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
Publisher
Sage
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Jamison, T. B., & Ganong, L. (2011). ‘‘We’re not living together:’’ Stayover relationships among college-educated emerging adults. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 28(4), 536-557. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407510384897
Rights
© The Author(s) 2010.