Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Copyright # 2007 by

2007, Vol. 36, No. 4, 503–514 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Perceived Romantic Competence, Importance of Romantic

Domains, and Psychosocial Adjustment
Heather A. Bouchey
University of Vermont

This study investigated romantic competence during late adolescence, including

preliminary psychometric properties of a new measure and its concurrent
association with psychosocial adjustment. Six aspects of perceived romantic
competence (romantic appeal, sexual competence, communication with part-
ners, maintenance of relationships, establishing equivalent power balance in
relationships, and feeling accepted by romantic partners) were hypothesized
to predict unique variance in psychosocial adjustment. Self-report data were
collected from 586 college students, a primarily female and European American
sample. Results revealed that four domains predicted variance in psychosocial
functioning. In addition, participants’ valuing of both maintaining romantic
relationships and positive partner characteristics moderated the effects of
perceived competence on self-worth.

In recent years, scholars have become increasingly
interested in studying the nature and function
of romantic relationships during adolescence.
The typical features and developmental course of
adolescent romantic experiences have been deli-
neated (Bouchey & Furman, 2003; Collins, 2003),
and the extent to which parental, peer, and roman-
tic relationships are linked continues to receive
attention (Connolly, Furman, & Konarski, 2000;
Furman, Simon, Shaffer, & Bouchey, 2002). How-
ever, the processes by which adolescents them-
selves make sense of their romantic experiences
remain relatively underexplored to date.
For instance, we know little about how adoles-
cents structure, integrate, and access the infor-
mation that they garner through their romantic
experiences. One possibility is that adolescents
form distinct competence beliefs within the roman-
tic domain, as others have posited occurs across
broader domains of functioning and social roles
(e.g., Harter, 1999; Masten et al., 1995). As a
preliminary test of this premise, a novel measure
of romantic self-concept, one composed of both
individuals’ perceived competence in different
aspects of romantic relationships and their per-
ceived importance or valuing of each of these
aspects, was investigated with college students.
Younger college students (i.e., 18- to 20-year-olds)
are typically considered ‘‘late adolescents’’ by
developmental scholars (Rice & Dolgin, 2005;
Steinberg, 2005).
In this article, preliminary data in support of the
hypothesized structure of romantic self-concept
are presented, as are data suggesting that certain
aspects of romantic competence uniquely predict
psychosocial adjustment. In addition, the potential
moderating role of the individual’s perceived
importance of each romantic domain on his or
her self-worth is discussed. First, however, a brief
discussion of the study’s theoretical underpinnings
is in order.

This research was supported by National Institutes of The Structure of Self-Concept

Health Institutional Training Grant T32 HD07109-24, Univer-
sity of Michigan.
I thank Valerie Simon and Laura Shaffer Hand for their
contributions to this study and Timothy R. Stickle for his sta-
tistical advice. I also thank Carrie Hommel, Lisa Andrews, Matt
Renck, Tracy Petherbridge, Melanie Steeves, Laurie Kaufman,
Meredith Adams, Audra Boden, Kara Egasti, William Murphy,
David Guzzman, Joanne Kalisz, Susan Varni, and Anka
Vujanovic for their help in data collection and=or data entry.
Correspondence should be addressed to Heather A. Bouchey,
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington,
VT 05405. E-mail: Heather.Bouchey@uvm.edu
The conceptual framework for this research
relied on contemporary theory regarding the self
in adolescence and young adulthood. A hallmark
of self-organization during this developmental
period is an increase in the number of domains
encapsulated by one’s self-concept (Marsh &
Hattie, 1996). Harter (1999) pointed out that
self-representations become more multidimen-
sional and differentiated once the capacity for

503
 BOUCHEY
abstract thought emerges in early to middle ado-
lescence. Adolescents can create abstract and
integrated self-representations focused on the self
in different contexts (i.e., broader peer group,
romantic partners, part-time jobs, etc.).
Based on this multiple selves phenomenon, late
adolescents’ self-representations within one social
sphere—romantic relationships—were further
explored in the research presented here. Just as
adolescents form distinct perceived competencies
linked to different interaction partners or contexts,
they were also expected to possess distinct com-
petence perceptions for different aspects of the self
within the same domain. Thus, this study investi-
gated a number of separate, albeit modestly
related, components of perceived romantic com-
petence during late adolescence.
Previous research has revealed that high school
students’ perceived competence regarding the peer
group, close friends, and romantic friends are
distinct constructs (Connolly & Konarski, 1994).
However, the Romantic Competence scale in that
work was based solely on the Romantic Appeal
subscale of the Self-Perception Profile for Adoles-
cents (SPP-A; Harter, 1988). Consistent with the
contemporary theorized structure of adolescent
self-concept, it was expected in this study that ado-
lescents would perceive themselves to be com-
petent (or incompetent) for a variety of different
domains, all related to romantic functioning. A
central goal of this research was to demonstrate
that additional components of perceived romantic
competence, above and beyond romantic appeal,
could be empirically validated. A measure osten-
sibly tapping into a number of these domains
was accordingly developed.
This conceptualization is different from existing
approaches that assess interpersonal competence
in several respects. First, whereas previous scales
have focused on adolescents’ perceptions of broad
interpersonal skills across a variety of domains
and relationships (e.g., Buhrmester, Furman,
Wittenberg, & Reiss, 1988; Grover, Nangle, &
Zeff, 2005), this investigation was designed to
assess perceived competence among different
facets of romantic relationships per se. Thus, the
extent to which late adolescents differentiated
among aspects of their functioning within the same
social role was examined. Second, this approach
was different from most previous work on
interpersonal competence in that it adopted a
‘‘structured alternative format’’ to evaluate com-
petence dimensions. To adequately assess per-
ceived romantic competence while reducing social
desirability (see Harter, 1988), respondents were
required to first select whether they were ‘‘more
like’’ people portrayed as either incompetent or
504
competent for particular aspects of romantic func-
tioning, before assessing ‘‘how much’’ they were
like those people. Finally, the measure was designed
to simultaneously assess both competence and
importance components of the romantic domain.
Previous work on interpersonal competence has
tended to focus solely on assessments of com-
petence, without examining the extent to which
adolescents care about whether they are competent
in different arenas of social functioning.
Domains of Romantic Competence
As an initial step toward investigating adoles-
cents’ perceived romantic competence, six domains
were assessed. Four of these domains could be
considered ‘‘individually’’ based romantic compe-
tencies, focused on respondents’ perceived ability,
comfort, and preference for certain aspects of
romantic functioning. The latter two domains
could be construed as more ‘‘partner’’ focused
aspects of competence, as they directly incorporate
characteristics of respondents’ partners as well as
broader relational features. The six initial domains
were (a) romantic appeal, adolescents’ perceived
ability to get an attractive potential dating partner
to go out with him or her (from the original SPP-
A); (b) sexual competence, adolescents’ perceived
experience and confidence in the sexual arena;
(c) communication, adolescents’ perceived ability
to disclose important information to their part-
ners; (d) relationship maintenance, adolescents’
perceived ability to stay in romantic relationships;
(e) power balance, adolescents’ success at estab-
lishing an equal balance of power in romantic
relationships; and (f) partner acceptance, the
extent to which adolescents felt understood and
validated as a person by their romantic partners.
Each of these domains was selected because
extant literature supports its salience for healthy
romantic functioning during adolescence or young
adulthood. For instance, romantic involvement is
a normative experience for nearly all Western mid-
dle and late adolescents (Carver, Joyner, & Udry,
2003), and feeling capable of attracting potential
dating partners (i.e., romantic appeal) has long
been considered a central component of adoles-
cents’ romantic self-perceptions (Connolly &
Konarski, 1994). Late adolescents who profess
an inability to initiate dating relationships (barring
cultural or contextual factors that preclude such
activities; see Diamond, Savin-Williams, & Dube,
1999) could therefore be construed as ‘‘incom-
petent’’ with respect to arguably the most basic
aspect of romantic functioning. It was thus
deemed important to include this aspect of com-
petence in the study presented here.
 COMPETENCE, IMPORTANCE, AND ADJUSTMENT
Sexual competence is also likely to be a core
domain of romantic competence, especially for
older adolescents. In addition to romantic involve-
ment, a sizeable majority of late adolescents report
having experienced sexual intercourse within the
context of their romantic relationships (Carver
et al., 2003). As well, sexual agency and sexual
self-reflection have been recently identified as
important components of early and late adolescent
self-concept (Horne & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2006;
O’Sullivan, Meyer-Bahlburg, & McKeague, 2006).
Satisfaction with sexual aspects of one’s life is also
an important predictor of romantic relationship
quality (Sprecher, 2002). Thus, adolescents’ per-
ceived satisfaction with the amount and type of
sexual activity they had engaged in was assessed.
Open communication has also been considered
a central component of healthy marital and
romantic relationships (Dindia & Timmerman,
2003; Fitzpatrick & Sollie, 1999; Sprecher &
Hendrick, 2004). Young adults who value com-
munication, emotional involvement, and intimacy
report more satisfaction with their romantic rela-
tionships (Sanderson & Cantor, 1997). Moreover,
self-disclosure and intimacy in romantic relation-
ships are likely to become increasingly important
as individuals move through adolescence (Collins
& Sroufe, 1999). Accordingly, respondents’ per-
ceived competence at communicating important
information to their romantic partners was
assessed in the current study.
In terms of relationship maintenance, norma-
tive studies indicate that late adolescents are typi-
cally involved in romantic relationships of longer
duration than are younger adolescents (Carver
et al., 2003; Feiring, 1999), and they tend to value
commitment-relevant aspects of romantic relation-
ships (Levesque, 1993; Montgomery, 2005).
Further, partners’ level of commitment has been
associated both concurrently and longitudinally
with couple well-being (Drigotas, Rusbult, &
Verette, 1999). Thus in this study, late adolescents’
perceived comfort with and skill at maintaining
relationships was considered a central aspect of
romantic competence.
With respect to more partner-oriented aspects
of romantic competence, establishing a balance
of power and feeling accepted and loved by one’s
partner appear to be central components of well-
functioning relationships. For instance, Galliher,
Rostosky, Welsh, and Kawaguchi (1999) reported
that perceived level of commitment to the relation-
ship, feelings of entrapment, and control over sex-
ual matters were predictors of female individuals’
well-being. Moreover, perceived inequality of
supportive behavior in romantic relationships
may signal relational difficulties (Welsh, Galliher,
Kawaguchi, & Rostosky, 1999). In contrast, when
adolescents feel supported, respected, and valued
by their romantic partners, they are more likely
to report satisfaction with their relationship (see
Fitness, 2006). These latter aspects of romantic
functioning are also presumed to underlie the
establishment of intimacy (Reis & Shaver, 1988).
Links with Adjustment
Competence in each of these six domains should
also logically be linked to psychosocial adjust-
ment. For instance, because it is normative for
older adolescents to engage in intimate, long-term
relationships, competence in communication and
relationship maintenance should be associated
with adolescents’ overall sense of self-worth as a
person as well as their perceived social com-
petence. It also stands to reason that those adoles-
cents with greater perceived romantic competence
would feel less social anxiety (LaGreca & Lopez,
1998). Presumably individuals’ confidence arising
from previous romantic experience helps facilitate
the developmentally salient and complex task of
initiating and negotiating romantic relationships
during late adolescence. Moreover, perceived
inequity in romantic relationships has been found
to relate to depression and lower self-esteem dur-
ing late adolescence, particularly among girls
(Galliher et al., 1999; Welsh et al., 1999). Feeling
understood and validated by one’s romantic part-
ner is also presumably linked to enhanced psycho-
logical well-being. Accordingly, competence in
each of these domains was expected to (statisti-
cally) predict psychosocial adjustment.
Competence in Important Domains
A second aim of this study emanated from
William James’s (1890) classic theory. James
argued that the ratio of one’s success to one’s pre-
tensions or aspirations would most strongly
impact how a person felt about him- or herself.
Harter (1999) tested James’s ideas by investigating
adolescents’ perceived competence in certain
domains coupled with their perceived importance
of doing well in that domain. She found that when
adolescents highly value competence in a certain
domain—for example, sports—but feel that they
are not doing well in that domain, they are more
likely to experience low self-worth. In contrast,
those adolescents who feel that they aren’t doing
well in sports but don’t particularly care about
that domain maintain their overall sense of
self-worth.
505
 BOUCHEY
The interplay between competence and impor-
tance was tested in this study to reveal support
for James’s theory within the romantic domain.
In particular, it was expected that adolescents’
self-worth would be highest when adolescents both
valued competence within a particular romantic
domain and concomitantly felt that they were, in
fact, competent in that domain. In contrast, self-
worth should be lowest when adolescents placed
high value on a domain but felt relatively
incompetent in that same domain.
To summarize, it was hypothesized that each
domain of romantic competence would have a
unique direct effect on psychosocial adjustment.
In particular, given the normative salience of
romantic involvement for late adolescents, the
domains of romantic competence were expected
to positively predict a unique and significant por-
tion of variability in participants’ global self-worth
(i.e., self-esteem) and social acceptance. In con-
trast, negative relations were expected between
competence and social anxiety, given that adoles-
cents with low perceived romantic competence
may feel particularly anxious in situations involv-
ing peers.
In terms of the role of perceived importance as
a moderator of adolescents’ competence percep-
tions, it was expected that when adolescents placed
greater value on competence in certain romantic
domains the effect of competence in that domain
on their self-worth would be more pronounced.
Because this latter prediction was relatively
exploratory, specific hypotheses were not gener-
ated for each romantic domain.
Method
Participants
Participants were 586 undergraduate students
recruited from introductory-level psychology
courses at two universities: a large public univer-
sity in the Midwest and a smaller public university
in New England. Mean age of participants was
18.96 years (SD ¼ .87). Sixty-nine percent of the
sample was female. A large majority of parti-
cipants (83%) identified themselves as European
American, with 8% Asian, 3% African American,
3% Latino, and 3% identifying as Other. Forty-
five percent of this sample was currently involved
in a romantic relationship of at least 4 weeks in
duration. Ninety-eight percent identified them-
selves as heterosexual.
506
Procedures
Measure construction. Constructs to be
included in this study were initially generated after
a thorough review of empirical literature as well as
a series of informal discussions among three
doctoral-level scholars, each with expertise in the
arena of adolescent romantic relationships.
Twenty-two items were generated by the author
to capture the six initially hypothesized com-
petence domains (except for romantic appeal,
which comprised original items from the SPP-A).
Based on Harter’s (1988) methodology, 14 items
were generated to capture perceived importance
of competence in the six domains. All items were
completed and reviewed by a separate group of
five doctoral-level scholars, each with expertise in
the arena of adolescent relationships. Reviewers
were instructed to complete the measure, noting
any items that were unclear or did not seem to
adequately tap into the notion of ‘‘competence’’
in romantic relationships. None of the respondents
noted significant difficulties with items or the
measure’s conceptualization.
Empirical validation of measure. Participants
completed self-report questionnaires in small
groups of 10 to 30 per session. Participants were
told that they could discontinue participation at
any time with no penalty, that there were no right
or wrong answers, and that they should think
about romantic or dating partners ‘‘in general’’
rather than specific partners when responding.
At the Midwestern university, students were
required to participate in research or complete an
equivalent writing assignment as part of their
course requirements. At the New England univer-
sity, students were given course extra credit for
participation. This research was fully approved
by the Institutional Review Board at each univer-
sity before data collection began. In addition, all
participants provided written informed consent
before beginning the questionnaire.
Measures
All constructs in this study were assessed with
self-report questionnaires. Mean-level ratings for
participants who reported on at least 75% of the
items were used for all scales.
The format of the Romantic Self-Concept
Questionnaire (RSC-Q; see next) and two of the
psychological adjustment scales was similar to that
of the original SPP-A. Items were structured so
that participants first chose whether one of two
statements was most like them and subsequently
marked how true that statement was for them.
 COMPETENCE, IMPORTANCE, AND ADJUSTMENT
Respondents sometimes encountered a positive
stem followed by a negative stem, and sometimes
this pattern was reversed.
There were two modifications to the original
SPP-A format. Scales in the study presented here
employed 6-point ratings ranging from not at all
true to very true. The number of rating points
was increased from the original 4-point format to
capture more variability in participants’ responses
and reduce skewness in scale scores. In addition,
the word teenagers from the original SPP-A was
changed to people in this study.
Romantic self-concept. The RSC-Q comprised
two components: perceived competence in and
perceived importance of distinct romantic domains.
Perceived competence. Adolescents’ percep-
tions of their romantic competence were assessed
with 22 items that ostensibly assessed competence
in the following domains: romantic appeal, sexual
experience and knowledge, communication,
relationship maintenance, power balance, and
partner acceptance. Leading stems for items for
the final scales are included in Table 1. For the
original romantic appeal scale, Harter (1988)
reported reliabilities of .75 to .85. Cronbach alpha
reliabilities for the scales in this study are dis-
played in Table 2.
Perceived importance. Adolescents’ percep-
tions of how important competence was in each
romantic domain were assessed with 14 items
(e.g., ‘‘Some people don’t care that much about
whether they are in a committed romantic
relationship BUT other people think it’s important
to be in a committed relationship’’). Scores for
perceived importance were composed of the aver-
age of 2 to 4 items for each domain. The format
of these items mirrored the structure of the Impor-
tance Rating Scale of the SPP-A, except that a
6-point scale was used (see earlier). Intercorrela-
tions among the importance items for domains
are listed in Table 2.
Psychological adjustment. Four measures
were used to assess psychological adjustment.
Internal reliability for all four measures was very
good (Cronbach a reliabilities ¼ .84–.90).
Global self-worth. The Global Self-Worth sub-
scale of the SPP-A was used to assess the extent to
which the respondent ‘‘likes oneself as a person.’’
This scale consisted of the five original items from
the SPP-A, except a 6-point rating scale was used
(see earlier). A sample item for this scale is, ‘‘Some
people are happy with themselves most of the time
BUT other people are often not happy with them-
selves.’’ Harter (1988) reported reliabilities of .80
to .89 for this scale.
Social acceptance. The Social Acceptance
subscale of the SPP-A assessed the extent to which
the respondent ‘‘feels that he=she is easy to like.’’
This scale consisted of the five original items from
the SPP-A, with a 6-point rating scale (see earlier).
A sample item for this scale is, ‘‘Some people find
it hard to make friends BUT for other people it’s
pretty easy.’’ Harter (1988) reported reliabilities
of .77 to .90 for this scale.
Social anxiety. The Social Anxiety Scale for
Adolescents (LaGreca & Lopez, 1998) assessed
respondents’ perceptions of social evaluative anxi-
ety and perceived distress in social situations.
Scores from both the Fear of Negative Evaluation
(FNE) and Social Avoidance Specific to New
Situations or Unfamiliar Peers (SADN) subscales
were used. The FNE subscale consisted of eight
items (e.g., ‘‘I worry about what others say about
me’’), whereas the SADN scale consisted of six
items (e.g., ‘‘I get nervous when I meet new
people’’). All items were rated using a 5-point scale
ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (all the time).
LaGreca and Lopez reported reliabilities of .91
(FNE) and .83 (SADN) for this scale.
Dating history. As indeces of their previous
romantic experiences, participants provided self-
reports of the total number of romantic partners
they had had and the longest duration (in months)
of their romantic involvement.
Results
The analysis plan for this study consisted of
principal components analysis followed by a series
of descriptive, correlational, and regression
analyses.
Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties
of the RSC-Q
To test whether the hypothesized six subscales
of the RSC-Q competence measure emerged from
the data, a principal components analysis with
six specified factors and varimax rotation was con-
ducted. Factorability of the correlation matrix was
507
 Table 1. Factor Structure and Loadings for Competence Items of the Romantic Self-Concept Questionnaire

508
Factor
1 2 3 4 5
Positive Partner Characteristics
Some people feel that their partners respect them as a person (PA) .78
Some people experience a pretty equal balance of power in their relationships (PB) .76
Some people are not pleased with how their partner makes them feel as a person (PA, RC) .75
Some people feel that their romantic partners accept them for who they are (PA) .69
Some people are not happy with how their partner thinks of them (PA, RC) .63
Some people are not pleased with their romantic partner’s level of commitment in the .58
relationship (PB, RC)
Maintaining Relationships
Some people are not comfortable being in a long-term relationship (MN, RC) .80
Some people prefer not to be involved in a long-term, committed relationship (MN, RC) .80
Some people have the social skills that allow them to stay in long-term romantic .74
relationships (MN)
Some people are able to stay in a relationship with someone they like (MN) .74
Some people are happy with their own level of commitment in romantic relationships (PB) .49
Some people put the same amount of effort into their relationships as their partners do (PB) .44 .46
Communication
Some people are not very comfortable sharing personal information with their partners (CM, RC) .74
Some people find it easy to tell their partners what they like or need (CM) .67
Some people have a hard time communicating with their romantic partner (CM, RC) .66
Some people find it easy to talk with their romantic partners (CM) .49 .60
Some people find it difficult to have romantic relationships (MN, RC) .47
Romantic Appeala
Some people feel that others their age will be romantically attracted to them (RA) .76
Some people feel that if they are romantically interested in someone, that person will .72
like them back (RA)
Some people feel that they are fun and interesting on a date (RA) .63
Some people are able to please their partners in a physical=sexual wayb (SC) .58
Some people usually don’t go out with people they would really like to date (RA, RC) .43
Some people are not dating the people they are really attracted toc (RA, RC)
Sexual Competence
Some people feel that they could benefit from more sexual experience (SC, RC) .85
Some people are happy with the amount of sexual activity they engage in (SC) .76
Some people feel that they could use more knowledge about sex (SC, RC) .44
Note: Factor loadings below .40 are not shown. Original scale for item included after each item: PA ¼ Partner Acceptance; PB ¼ Power Balance; CM ¼ Communication; MN ¼ Maintenance;
RA ¼ Romantic Appeal; SC ¼ Sexual Competence. RC ¼ reverse coded.
a
Adapted from Harter (1988).
b
This item was not included in the Romantic Appeal subscale, to keep the measure consistent with Harter’s (1988) original subscale.
c
Although this item did not load on any of the five factors, it was included in the Romantic Appeal subscale to keep the measure consistent with Harter’s (1988) original subscale.
 COMPETENCE, IMPORTANCE, AND ADJUSTMENT

Table 2. Zero-Order Correlations Between Competence Domains and Psychological Adjustment

Variable Name Global Self-Worth Social Acceptance Fear Neg Eval Social Avoidance a M(SD)
Competence
1. Partner Chars. .48 .32
.28
.20 .86 4.84a (.92)
2. Maintenance .36 .17
.21
.12 .86 4.59b (1.05)
3. Communication .42 .26
.23
.28 .82 4.51b (1.03)
4. Romantic Appeal .56 .45
.44
.40 .77 4.02c (.96)
5. Sexual Competence .27 .19
.19
.19 .70 3.95c (1.23)
Importance
1. Partner Chars. .24 .19
.06
.05 .44a 5.53a (.59)
2. Maintenance .05
.02 .07 .09 .53 4.22b (1.15)
3. Communication .21 .11
.02
.00 .46 4.76c (1.02)
4. Romantic Appeal .12 .09
.01 .02 .39 5.36e (.75)
5. Sexual Competence
.09 .12 .02
.01 .32 4.13b (1.03)
Note: Ns for correlations range from 538 to 554. Ns for means range from 537 to 566. For correlations, j.09j < jrj < j.11j, p < .05.
j.11j < jr j < j.15j, p < .01. j rj > j.15 j, p < .001. a ¼ Cronbach’s alpha reliability for competence domain; average correlation among
items for importance domains. Subscripts for competence and importance means denote significant t-test differences within the domain
at p < .005. Neg Eval ¼ negative evaluation; Chars. ¼ characteristics.
a
Average correlation among four importance items for original acceptance and power balance scales.

acceptable (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sam-
pling adequacy ¼ .93), Bartlett’s Test of
Sphericity ¼ 6144.74 (325), p < .001. The solution
yielded five factors with eigenvalues greater than
1.0. As indicated in Table 1, the first factor was
a combination of romantic partner acceptance
and power balance items (termed ‘‘positive partner
characteristics’’ for the remainder of this article).
The remaining factors were relatively consistent
with the originally hypothesized structure. The
second factor comprised primarily maintenance
items, the third factor represented primarily com-
munication items, and the fifth factor comprised
three sexual competence items. Only four of the
original romantic appeal items loaded together,
and one of the sexual competence items loaded
with this factor as well (see Factor 4, Table 1).
Together, these five factors accounted for
59.14% of the variance in the items. The analysis
yielded a relatively clear solution, with only two
cross-loadings greater than .40 (see Table 1).
Based on these results, the following mean sub-
scales of romantic competence were constructed:
(a) Positive Partner Characteristics, comprising
the six highest loading items for Factor 1; (b)
Relationship Maintenance, comprising the six
highest loading items for Factor 2; (c) Communi-
cation, comprising the five highest loading items
for Factor 3; (d) Romantic Appeal, comprising
the original five items from the SPP-A (see Table
1); and (e) Sexual Competence, comprising the
three highest loading items for Factor 5. Cross-
loading items were assigned only to the factor that
they loaded highest on to minimize multicollinear-
ity among subscales.
Concurrent and short-term longitudinal corre-
lation analyses indicated preliminary evidence for
validity and reliability of the RSC–Q. For
instance, with respect to criterion validity, all five
competence scores were positively associated with
the duration of adolescents’ longest romantic
involvement (rs ¼ .15 to .42, p < .001), and com-
munication, romantic appeal, and sexual com-
petence were also positively related to the total
number of dating partners adolescents reported
(rs ¼ .14, p < .01 to .25, p < .001). Perceived
romantic competence was thus correlated with
the extensiveness and intensity of romantic
involvement. Cohen’s reliability coefficients indi-
cated good reliability for the competence sub-
scales, and correlations between the items for
each importance subscale were all significant and
positive (see Table 2).
In addition, a subsample (n ¼ 75) of the orig-
inal participants recompleted the RSC-Q 1 month
after originally participating. Test–retest correla-
tions for this subsample indicated good reliability.
Correlations for competence ranged from .77 (sex-
ual competence) to .86 (relationship maintenance),
all p < .001. Correlations for importance ranged
from .48 (romantic appeal) to .77 (sexual com-
petence), all p < .001.
Descriptive Analyses
As illustrated in Table 2, participants reported
moderately high levels of competence across
domains of the RSC–Q. A series of pairwise t tests
with Bonferroni error correction revealed that
positive partner characteristics were rated highest,
whereas competence in both romantic appeal and
the sexual domain were rated lowest. Importance
ratings also indicated that participants placed at
least moderate value on being competent in each

509

of these aspects of romantic functioning. Adoles-
cents reported that it was most important to have
partners with positive characteristics. The domains
of sexual competence and relationship mainte-
nance were the least valued.
Competence and Psychological Adjustment
The first hypothesis stated that romantic com-
petence would be positively associated with psy-
chosocial adjustment. As expected, zero-order
correlations revealed that competence was signifi-
cantly related to adjustment in the hypothesized
direction. Negative correlations (rs ¼
.12, p < .01
to
.44, p < .001) were obtained for social anxiety
scales, whereas positive correlations (rs ¼ .17 to
.56, all p < .001) were obtained for social accept-
ance and global self-worth (see Table 2). Overall,
the more competent participants felt in the roman-
tic domain, the better psychosocial adjustment
they reported.
A series of multiple regression analyses was
conducted to test whether each component of
romantic competence was a significant and unique
predictor of psychosocial adjustment. Simul-
taneous regression was selected because direct,
rather than total, effects on adjustment were of
primary interest. Analyses were conducted separ-
ately with global self-worth, social acceptance, fear
of negative evaluation, and social avoidance as the
criterion variable. Results for these analyses are
demonstrated in Table 3. Perceived romantic
appeal was the strongest predictor of all four
measures of adjustment. As well, positive partner
features were consistently linked in the expected
direction to adjustment, except for social
avoidance. Effects for perceived competence at
maintaining romantic relationships and communi-
cation with romantic partners were more mixed.
Whereas communication competence was
positively associated with global self-worth and
Table 3. Standardized Regression Coefficients for Romantic Self-Concept Domains as Predictors of Psychosocial
Adjustment
Global Self-Worth
Variables b R2
Positive Partner Char’s. .24
Relationship Maintenance
.02
Communication .11
Romantic Appeal .43
Sexual Competence
.07þ .37
Note: N ¼ 532–534. Neg Eval ¼ negative evaluation; Chars. ¼ characteristics.
þ
p < .10.  p < .05.  p < .01.  p < .001.
510
BOUCHEY
negatively associated with social avoidance, com-
petence at maintaining relationships was related
to less social acceptance and more social avoid-
ance. Neither competence at communication nor
maintenance was associated with fear of negative
evaluation. Overall, romantic competence pre-
dicted a moderate to sizeable amount of variance
in psychosocial adjustment (R2 ¼ .19 to .37).
In two regression analyses (for social accept-
ance and social avoidance), the sign of the coef-
ficient for maintenance was reversed from that of
the zero-order correlation between maintenance
and adjustment (see Table 2); follow-up analyses
examined whether maintenance served as a
suppressor variable (see Cohen, Cohen, West,
& Aiken, 2003; Maassen & Bakker, 2001). Simul-
taneous multiple regressions run without mainte-
nance in the model revealed that it was indeed a
suppressor of the effect of positive partner features
on social acceptance (b ¼ .16, p < .01 without
maintenance in the equation; R2 ¼ .21) and the
effect of communication on social avoidance
(b ¼
.14, p < .01 without maintenance in the
equation; R2 ¼ .16). In essence, within these two
analyses participants’ perceived competence at
maintaining relationships served to suppress error
variance in positive partner features or communi-
cation, ultimately enhancing their effects on the
criterion (Cohen et al., 2003). These two variables
were significant predictors of outcomes even in the
absence of maintenance, however. The coefficients
for romantic appeal and sexual competence did
not change noticeably in either of these analyses.
Perceived Importance as a Moderator
of Romantic Competence
The second hypothesis predicted a moderating
relation between importance and competence
in predicting global self-worth. A series of four
hierarchical regressions (see Cohen et al., 2003),
Psychosocial Adjustment
Social Acceptance Fear of Neg Eval Social Avoidance
b R2 b R2 b R2
.20
.11
.01

.16 .03 .23
.05 .01
.24
.41
.43
.37

.06 .22 .06 .21 .01 .19
 COMPETENCE, IMPORTANCE, AND ADJUSTMENT
Table 4. Perceived importance and Competence as Predictors of Global Self-Worth
Step 1
2
Domain Comp b Import b R Comp b
PC .44 .20 .23
MN .45
.15 .15
CM .42
.01 .18
RA .56 .06þ .32
SC .27
.02 .07
Note: N ¼ 537–551. Comp ¼ mean-centered competence term; Import ¼ mean-centered importance term; Intxn ¼ Competence 
Importance interaction term; PC ¼ Partner Characteristics; MN ¼ Maintenance; CM ¼ Communication; RA ¼ Romantic Appeal;
SC ¼ Sexual Competence.
þ
p < .10.  p < .05.  p < .001.
one for each romantic domain, was conducted to
test this prediction.
Results revealed a statistically significant inter-
action between importance and competence for
two of the domains: positive partner characteris-
tics and competence in maintaining relationships
(see Table 4). Specifically, adolescents with the
lowest self-esteem were those that placed the high-
est value on staying in romantic relationships but
also felt less capable of doing so. Results were in
the opposite direction for positive partner charac-
teristics. Here, adolescents with the highest self-
esteem were those that both valued these relational
features and felt that their partners typically pos-
sessed them. Adolescents low in positive partner
characteristics did not show differential self-worth
as a function of importance.
Discussion
Consistent with hypotheses, late adolescents’
competence in three of the five assessed romantic
domains was positively linked with psychosocial
adjustment. To the extent that adolescents felt
more romantically appealing and reported both
acceptance from partners and an equivalent bal-
ance of power in their relationships, they were
more likely to feel good about themselves and
report more acceptance and less anxiety in the
social domain. When adolescents felt skilled at
communicating with partners, they also reported
higher self-esteem and were less avoidant of novel
social situations. These results suggest that indivi-
duals with low perceived romantic competence are
at heightened risk for poor self-esteem and com-
promised well-being. Of course, it is also possible
that poorer psychosocial adjustment predicts com-
promised romantic competence or that bidirec-
tional associations exist between competence and
adjustment at any one point in time. Nonetheless,
the findings are consistent with previous work
Step 2
Import b Intxn b R2 DR2
.42 .16 .11 .24 .01
.47
.17 .12 .18 .01
.42 .01 .06 .18 .00
.55 .06þ .04 .32 .006
.27
.02
.02 .07 .00
documenting positive links between romantic
involvement and self-esteem (Samet & Kelly,
1987). It is important to point out that the most
salient aspect of competence for adolescents’ con-
current adjustment was their perceived romantic
appeal. Yet each of the three competence domains
previously noted did exhibit a unique direct effect
on at least one aspect of psychosocial adjustment.
Hypothesized effects were not demonstrated
for either perceived sexual competence or skill at
relationship maintenance. The broad-based lack
of findings for sexual competence in this study is
interesting, as it suggests that, in the face of other
relational competencies, late adolescents’ per-
ceived competence in the sexual domain is not
relevant to their adjustment, at least in terms of
the psychosocial outcomes assessed here. Of
course, the reliability obtained for the sexual com-
petence scale in this study was somewhat lower
that that of the other competence scales, and
future research with more sensitive measures of
perceived sexual competence should be undertaken
to either replicate or refute this pattern.
Surprisingly, competence at maintaining roman-
tic relationships did not independently predict
variance in psychosocial outcomes. It functioned
primarily as a suppressor variable in this investi-
gation. Although this pattern could certainly have
resulted from some degree of multicollinearity
between competence at maintaining relationships
and both communication competence and having
partners with positive features (relevant correla-
tions were .68 and .61), the mean-level pattern of
findings suggests a slightly different interpretation.
Namely, these late adolescents were not very
invested in maintaining their romantic relation-
ships, a pattern somewhat inconsistent with
frameworks positing greater commitment to rela-
tionships by late adolescence (see Collins & Sroufe,
1999; Montgomery, 2005). Indeed, the most ‘‘deva-
lued’’ domains in this study (maintenance and sex-
ual competence) were the two least linked with
511
 BOUCHEY
adjustment. It is possible that at a different time
frame, such as later in adulthood when the press
for finding a marital partner increases, the links
between individuals’ investment in maintaining
long-term relationships and adjustment would be
stronger. It is also worthwhile to note that individ-
ual differences in the ratio between perceived
competence and importance did predict self-worth
(see next).
In addition to the direct associations between
competence and psychosocial adjustment, findings
also revealed that adolescents’ self-esteem was dif-
ferentially associated with both the extent to which
they experienced positive partners and were com-
petent at maintaining relationships, as a function
of how much they valued these domains. Thus,
when adolescents both expressed that it was
important to have acceptance and balance in rela-
tionships and felt that they did, they had very high
levels of self-esteem. Of interest, it was not the case
that those who highly valued positive partner fea-
tures but did not report experiencing them felt the
worst about themselves. Instead, adolescents with
few positive partner characteristics evidenced the
lowest self-esteem, regardless of their importance
ratings, demonstrating the strong association of
perceived partner characteristics with respondents’
self-worth in this sample.
In contrast, when adolescents who highly
valued being in a romantic relationship felt that
they were not skilled at staying in them, they did
show lower levels of self-worth. In other words,
perceived competence at staying in romantic rela-
tionships was a liability only for those who wanted
a long-term relationship to begin with. These
results may indicate a unique subset of late adoles-
cents who are seeking out long-term romantic
partnerships but feel unable to successfully achieve
them. Future study should inquire whether such a
group is at heightened risk for psychopathology in
addition to reduced self-esteem.
Although these two moderating effects are
interesting, it is important to point out that only
two of the six moderating analyses revealed signifi-
cant effects. Moreover, the significant effects that
did emerge were quite small in magnitude. Given
the moderate correlations obtained among the
importance items in this study, it is possible that
the psychometric properties of that measure pre-
cluded the discovery of truly significant effects.
At present, it remains unclear whether more sensi-
tive indeces of perceived importance would reveal
stronger moderation effects or, alternatively,
whether perceived competence is truly the primary
force driving effects on psychosocial functioning.
If the former is true, identifying unique subsets
of adolescents who are at risk for psychological
512
maladjustment because of how strongly they value
certain aspects of romantic functioning would be
fruitful. If the latter is true, then scholars should
put more effort into further refining what is meant
by and how best to assess romantic competence.
It is also worth noting that, contrary to expecta-
tions, results did not support a unique construct of
perceived power balance in the study presented
here. Rather, the original power balance items per-
taining to partner features loaded with the original
partner acceptance items, whereas the original
power balance items pertaining to the respondent’s
effort and commitment in the relationship loaded
with the original maintenance items. These pat-
terns are interesting in two respects. First, they
suggest that late adolescents may be inclined to
clump together their perceptions of different
aspects of their partners’ behavior and inclina-
tions, rather than retain distinct conceptions of
what partners do and believe. Second, the results
indicate that our original conceptualization may
have misattributed the meaning of romantic com-
mitment and effort for late adolescents. Whereas
these components of romantic functioning were
initially thought to capture ways in which relation-
ships could be ‘‘imbalanced,’’ they were actually
more relevant to perceived competence at main-
taining relationships for this sample of late adoles-
cents. The potential overlap between power
balance and relationship maintenance in romantic
relationships deserves further empirical attention.
It is important to highlight limitations regard-
ing this study. First, the data were cross-sectional
and all self-report. Longitudinal and multimethod
approaches would clearly add to this work. Also,
the convenience sample, drawn from introductory
psychology classes, was overwhelmingly female.
Given this sex makeup, it is possible that the con-
nections revealed among romantic self-concept
and adjustment are particularly salient to young
women. Other researchers have reported gender
differences in the links between romantic percep-
tions and both depression and self-esteem (Galliher
et al., 1999; Welsh et al., 1999), and future research
on romantic competence should more readily
examine gender as a potential moderator variable.
Likewise, the current sample was primarily
European American and heterosexual. As recently
noted (Bouchey & Furman, 2003), there exists a
paucity of research on the romantic experiences
of ethnic and sexual minority adolescents in the
United States. As such, we know very little about
how broader cultural aspects of late adolescents’
lives inform their romantic expectations and per-
ceptions. The sample here was unique in that
it comprised highly educated, late adolescent
youth. Given the connections among romantic
 COMPETENCE, IMPORTANCE, AND ADJUSTMENT
competence, importance of romantic domains, and
adjustment documented in this study, investigating
how these patterns may be similar (or not) for indi-
viduals from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic
backgrounds will be an informative next step in
this research area. Finally, and perhaps most
important, this investigation must be recognized
as a preliminary attempt to investigate the domains
of (late) adolescents’ perceived romantic compe-
tencies. Future work will no doubt reveal other
important domains of romantic competence. As
well, it is clear that more systematic investigation
of the RSC–Q is needed, including replication with
multiple samples of both younger and older ado-
lescents and concurrent validity checks. It is hoped
that this initial investigation will serve as a spring-
board for additional research in the intriguing
realm of romantic competence.
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Received August 11, 2005
Accepted November 13, 2006

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