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This study explored whether the Dating Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (DAS-A), which was originally developed in the United States to assess dating anxiety in adolescents, is appropriate for use in samples of young adults from Poland and the United States. The factor structure, measurement invariance across country, gender and relationship status, degree of precision across latent levels of the DAS and the functioning of individual items, and convergent validity were examined in a sample of 309 Polish and 405 U.S. young adults. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the original three-factor measurement model of the DAS. Invariance tests revealed factor loadings and item thresholds that differed across subgroups, supporting partial metric and partial scalar invariance. The MIRT analysis showed that all items adequately discriminated participants with low and high anxiety. Dating anxiety latent factor correlations with mental health and interpersonal competence were significant in the expected negative directions. The results call for careful interpretation of research involving the DAS in cultural, gender, and relationship status groups, particularly when the primary goal is to compare mean levels of dating anxiety. Further development of the scale is recommended before it can be used across country, gender, and relationship status groups.

In Erikson's model of development, intimacy and isolation denote polar outcomes of psychosocial crisis in young adulthood. Drawing on this model, the present study used three-wave longitudinal data to examine patterns of the success and lack of success in the resolution of Eriksonian crisis in relation to romantic loneliness as a negative outcome of the intimacy crisis, and compared across Poland and the United States. The data were collected from Polish and U.S. individuals aged 18-40 for Wave 1 ( N = 763). Four patterns of the Eriksonian intimacy crisis were identified: (a) stable partnered status; (b) stable single status; (c) transition from single to partnered status; (d) transition from partnered to single status. In both countries, transition from single to partnered status was related to decreased romantic loneliness. Greater initial romantic loneliness was observed among Polish single adults who transited to partnered status in contrast to stable single adults. In turn, the U.S. partnered adults who transited to single status initially experienced lower romantic loneliness than stable single adults. Bivariate latent growth curve models pairing romantic loneliness with relationship satisfaction revealed that higher initial relationship satisfaction was associated with lower initial romantic loneliness, and a greater increase in relationship satisfaction was associated with smaller increases in romantic loneliness. The findings highlight that different resolutions of the intimacy crisis are related to diverse romantic loneliness and relationship satisfaction trajectories and these associations also appear to differ as a function of various marital and loneliness contexts in Poland and the United States. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

There is growing recognition that relationship factors besides relationship status play an important role in young adults' mental and physical health. This study explored the concurrent (between-individual) and longitudinal (within-individual) associations between relationship status, relationship satisfaction, satisfaction with relationship status, and varied dimensions of health in samples of Polish and U.S. young adults. Data from young adults (aged 18-34 at Wave 1) were collected in a three-wave investigation in Poland and in the USA with one-year intervals between each of the measurements. The cross-sectional analyses demonstrated that individuals in relationships reported better health, particularly if they were in a higher-quality relationship. The fixed-effects models showed that relationship quality was a much more consistent and powerful predictor of health than was relationship status; however, for depression, satisfaction with relationship status was an independent contributor to health. Cross-cultural analyses revealed a stronger link between partner status and depression and emotional well-being, and relationship satisfaction and psychological well-being among Polish young adults than their American counterparts. The results demonstrated that characteristics of relationships and satisfaction with relationship status matter more for changes in health than relationship status alone and that these links may differ by cultural context., (© 2021 International Association of Applied Psychology.)