Adolescents show increased self-determined dating motivations, highlighting gender disparities in development.
Overall, the findings support the view that adolescents progressively shift toward more self-determined motivations with age-a process that appears to occur earlier in girls than in boys. Romantic experiences and current dating status hindered the decrease in amotivation and made only a small contribution to the development of other forms of regulation. Practical implications of the development of dating motivation and gender differences are discussed.
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Kindelberger et al. (2026) studied this question.
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