Familial Relationships effects on Endorsement of Traditional Romantic Relationship Events

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether there was an association between the quality of one’s familial relationships (i.e., a “good” or “bad” family life) and one’s personal endorsement of traditional romantic relationship events (i.e., wanting to be in a relationship, holding hands, meeting the family, etc.). It was hypothesized that the worse one’s family relationships are, the less they would endorse traditional romantic relationship events. Previous research (Zagefka et al., 2021) supports the hypothesis that negative family experiences will be adversely associated with one’s views on traditional romantic relationship events. Experiencing familial dysfunction, Zagefka (2021) described, is a significant predictor for later romantic relationship impairment. To test the hypothesis, a Pearson bivariate correlation analysis was conducted. The correlation test resulted in a significant relation between the variables tested. As predicted, decreased quality of familial relationships was associated with reduced endorsement of traditional romantic relationship events. Previous literature supports the findings of the negative effects that poor familial relationships have on romantic relationships (Vasilenko et al., 2025). Overall, these findings suggest that early family relationship quality plays an important role in how individual’s approach and value significant events associated with traditional romantic relationship milestones.