Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore the long-term effects of the separation and divorce about the quality of romantic relationships in adolescence. Partecipants are 60 adolescents (14-18 years), 30 males and 30 females, who live in Rome, equally subdivided according to the family structure (30 adolescents who live in united families and 30 who live in divorced families). Adolescents completed: a) a semi-structured interview on the romantic experience; b) Adult Attachment Questionnaire (Hazan & Shaver, 1987) to evaluate couple attachment styles; c) Mental Models referred to beliefs on love, oneselves and to significant others d) Passionate Love Scale (Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986) to analyse cognitive, emotive and behavioral dimensions in the romantic experience. The results show that adolescents in divorced families are more cautious to the romantic relationships, choose short-time and premature relationships. There aren't significant differences between attachment styles in two kinds of family structure; besides, insecure attachment influences negative emotions about the outcome in the romantic relationships.