Attitudes and Experiences of Indian Youth regarding Romantic Relationships and Physical Intimacy

Introduction: Young population today is undergoing several transformations; the chances of getting involved with opposite sex partner’s increase to a large extent particularly in urban parts of the country. Objectives: To examine the attitudes and perceptions of youth in India about romantic relationships and physical intimacy. Methodology: The present study used the data from the “Youth in India: Situation and Needs” survey conducted during 2006-2007. This study covered six states namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Bi-variant analysis is used to study the attitudes and experiences of romantic relationships and physical intimacy of youth and their background characteristics. Results: This study found that majority (nearly one fourth) of the young people spent time with friends of opposite sex. Almost half of the respondents stated that they were engaged in kissing before marriage. Though rural-urban difference is not much, it is slightly more among rural youth, 47 percent of rural youth and 43 percent of urban youth had their first pre-marital sexual experience when they were 15 to 18 years old. Conclusions: Attitudes, perceptions and experiences of youth regarding romantic relationships and physical intimacy are determined by the number of background characteristics like age, sex, place of residence, religion, caste, education etc. Majority of the young people spent time with the opposite sex friends, both in rural and urban areas. Those who reported to have never spent time with friends of opposite sex is very few.