Perceived romantic competence, importance of romantic domains, and psychosocial adjustment.

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 partners, 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.