The arena for finding an intimate partner has changed significantly in the 21st century with online love relationships becoming more prevalent. Research indicates that individuals do experience meaningful online romantic love relationships and that these relationships often lead to face to face (FTF) relationships. However, limited research has been done on exploring the experiences of those who are/were involved in online romantic love relationships. Furthermore, research conducted on online love romantic relationships generally fails to investigate how people experience passion online, hereby ignoring this integral component of romantic love. The primary aim of the research study was to explore young adults’ experiences of romantic love relationships in virtual space. More specifically, the study explored how young adults experienced intimacy and passion as elements of romantic love online. The study was viewed from an interpretative paradigm and made use of a qualitative approach. The researcher conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven participants which were transcribed, and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four superordinate themes were identified, namely, Online Intimacy, Online Romance and Passion, Online Love, and Social Exchange Online. The participants experienced romantic love online and reported that these relationships were very significant, real and impacted on their psychological well-being. The study created a heuristic base that will provide impetus for this emerging field in research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:21930 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Lambert, Tania |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Health Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, DPhil |
| Format | xi, 249 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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