Change in relationship status and internalizing symptoms among adolescents: Testing bidirectionality and moderation by sexual orientation, gender, and age

Adolescent romantic experiences are socially normative and serve important social and developmental functions. Despite the well-established concurrent link between romantic involvement and internalizing symptoms in heterosexual adolescents, limited and mixed evidence exists on the directionality of this association. Research on this topic in sexually diverse adolescents is scarce. We sought to clarify how changes in relationship status and internalizing symptoms predict each other over time, and how these associations vary by sexual orientation, gender, and age. We provided a novel examination of these associations separately for initially single and romantically involved adolescents. In this longitudinal study, 1136 demographically diverse adolescents (M_age = 15.3 years, range_age = 13-19 years; 55.3% Hispanic/Latine) from local public high schools reported their relationship status and internalizing symptoms in four waves of surveys (August 2017-June 2019). We found that entering into a romantic relationship predicted lower internalizing symptoms for adolescents who were gay, lesbian, or not sure about their sexual orientation (but not for heterosexual or bisexual adolescents), highlighting the protective functions of romantic relationships for certain sexually diverse youth. We also found that higher internalizing symptoms predicted a greater likelihood of entering into a romantic relationship among initially single adolescents. Breakups and internalizing symptoms did not predict each other over time. Gender and age did not moderate any associations. These findings contribute to our understanding of the longitudinal associations between changes in relationship status and mental health and inform how adults should counsel youth on romantic relationships. Researchers should further elucidate the complex interplay between adolescent romantic relationships and mental health, especially for sexually and gender diverse youth.