The Veni grant provides highly promising young scientists with the opportunity to further elaborate on their research ideas for a period of three years. Because, strangely enough, we know very little about this. What we do know is that for most young people, sex and love are connected. Most young people have sex within the context of a romantic relationship. The same holds true for the media, which pays a lot of attention to casual sex.
And that is also interesting and it also happens, but that focus is not in line with the reality of what most youths experience.
The balance is off. I expect both to be true. Both partners will be interviewed, fill out longitudinal questionnaires, complete daily diaries for one week, and perform interaction tasks with each other and their best friends, which will be observed to assess how positive and negative experiences with peers, love, and sex are connected, and linked with their general wellbeing.
We know, for example, that the issue of safe sex is a lot more complicated than you would think, when you look at the relationship context.
For instance, American research has shown that teenage girls often stop using condom-protection as their romantic relationship evolves, because they consider that as a symbol for the trust they have in their boyfriend.
