Child Trends has released a new research brief entitled: Characteristics of Young Adult Sexual Relationships: Diverse, Sometimes Violent, Often Loving, which analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to identify important factors about the nature and quality of these relationships that may have long-term consequences.

Among the findings:

Read the brief.

• Young adults' relationships vary in terms of age differences, race/ethnicity, and the length of time they knew their partner before having sex.
• The vast majority of young adults who are married, cohabiting, or in exclusive dating relationships report that they and their partner have a lot of love for each other and are faithful to each other.
• One-quarter of young adults report that they had experienced physical violence in their relationships and 8 percent report that their partner has insisted they have sex when they did not want to do so.
• A large proportion of young adults used some form of contraception the last time they had sex with a partner, but a substantial proportion of young adult couples remain at risk for STDs due to lower levels of condom use.

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