Mapping Research Trends and Themes on Relationship Transitions in Emerging Adulthood: A Bibliometric Study

The developmental needs during emerging adulthood provide an opportunity for various relationship developments (e.g., marriage, romantic relationship, dating), which have led to increased research on this topic. This study focuses on familial, romantic, and broader social relationships during emerging adulthood, examining research trends, major themes, and how these relationship transitions have become integrated with one another since the introduction of emerging adulthood theory. A total of 1,356 articles on relationship transition in emerging adulthood were collected from the Web of Science (WoS) during the 2000–2024 period, and a bibliometric approach was used. The findings reveal an overall upward publication trend with periodic fluctuations, with the majority of contributions originating from the United States. Furthermore, this result shows thematic diversity across the topics and analytical integration between subtopics by crossing theoretical boundaries. Finally, some themes developed with dominant interest, while there was some overlap in areas of research interest (“common themes”). Future studies should include developed and developing contexts to address the contextual heterogeneity of relationship transition research on emerging adulthood.