From peers to partners: The peer‐context origins of adolescent heterosexual romance

Abstract Romantic partnerships are highly influential for adolescent development, but many questions remain as to how and with whom such relationships emerge. By adopting a dynamic social network perspective, this study furthers our understanding of the peer‐related precursors to heterosexual adolescent romance. Multivariate statistical network models are applied to unique longitudinal data on 1919 Dutch adolescents' ( M age = 14.9, SD age = 1.6; 52% girls, 12% non‐Western migration background) romantic relationships and other social ties (e.g., friendships, popularity nominations, “crushes”). Results indicate that peer‐related processes at the individual‐, couple‐, and network‐level increase the probability that a different‐gender pair will form a romantic partnership. Adolescent pairs are more likely to begin heterosexual romantic partnerships if they were previously friends, shared the same school or classroom context, had mutual friends, or were friends with the respective members of another couple. These findings emphasize the value of recognizing how adolescents' intimate romantic relationships are embedded in broader peer contexts.