Identity, intimacy, status and sex dating goals as correlates of goal-consistent behavior and satisfaction in Australian youth

The most common dating goals of adolescents are identity, intimacy, status and sex. In this study of Australian youth (16–30 years, N = 208), dating goals were expected to explain goal-consistent behavior in each domain. Also, goals coupled with consistent behavior were expected to be associated with greater satisfaction in each domain. Age, gender, same-sex versus other-sex attraction, and cohabitation were also examined. The four dating goals had small intercorrelations, and for each domain but sex, youth who reported more of a dating goal also reported more goal-consistent behavior. For identity, intimacy and sex, participants were more satisfied when they had more goal-consistent behavior. Goal × Behavior interactions were associated with satisfaction in the domains of intimacy and sex, and identity was the most salient dating goal domain. Individual differences in goals, behavior and satisfaction were most pronounced for gender and cohabitation. Few differences were found between same-sex and other-sex attracted youth.