Review of Related Literature

The goal of this study is to investigate the academic performance of SJBA students while
having a relationship with other students. Implications from this study may help inform educators
and families in developing appropriate policies and educational conversations to guide students.

Before going into the main variables of the study, the researchers discuss in first part why
adolescents involve on romantic relationships and how these relationships contribute in the growth
and development of adolescents. In the next part, the researchers talk about the connection of
independent variables in this study such as the romantic relationship which involves time,
motivation and anxiety. These three variables which are involved in romantic relationship affect
the academic performance of individuals involved in a romantic relationship. In the last part of
the chapter, the researchers try to evaluate previous studies related to the topic of this study.

Humans, particularly adolescents get involve in romantic relationships with variety of

reasons. According to Aristotle, humans are social animals which made them long to form an
intimate relationship in which love can be given and received freely which the psychologists called
the need to belong (Myers, 2010).

Rest assured of the love and care given by the persons close to them, they are secured with
the trust and confidence that they are acceptable to individuals whom they can depend on for the
satisfaction of their needs. Raman (2010) stated that being in romantic relationship involves
physical contact which causes chemical arousal to the persons involved and at the same time gain
love and confidence in which they are longing for. (Koob & Bloom 1982) also explained this by
stating that the individuals who are in love release a number of chemicals within the brain such as
oxytocin, vasopressin and endorphins which cause short-term joy and pleasure.

On the other hand, According to Arnet (as cited in Fincham& Cui, 2011) "late adolescents"
is the stage where teenagers experienced how to be totally and socially independent. This is the
time for curiosity & explorations in choosing and having a partner, and explores this kind of
curiosity that somehow leads to romantic relationship. However, this kind of relationship may not
lead to a pleasant and intense love affair. This is just a result of their inquisitive mind and a sort of
finding on how to fit into the world. What is life all about? Questions such as these assume
special significance during teenage years, as adolescents seek to find their place in broader and
social world. This quest takes adolescents along several routes. Luqman (2009) said that an
adolescent relationship plays an important role to adolescents as it develops the ability for
committed relationships. Additionally, Pelt (2004) stated that those relationships help develop
personality. She also added that it is a way of knowing ones unique qualities of opposite sex and
at the same time choosing the right life partner. Moreover, researchers theorized that romantic
relationship is essential to the development of adolescents in different aspects such as
transformation of family relationships, close relationships with peers, sexuality, and career
planning (Furman, 2002).

According to Lucas & Curpuz (2007),quality personal relationships that provide stability,
trust, and caring such as romantic relationships can increase learners sense of belonging, self-
respect and self- acceptance, and provide a positive climate for learning(p. 16) and thus increase
academic performance. According to the theory of incentive approach of motivation, the desirable
properties of external stimuli whether grades, money, affection, food, or sex account for persons
motivation. Moreover, theorists suggested that romantic relationship has a great role in the
academic performance of adolescents.

Vygotskys theory states that social interaction plays a very important role in the cognitive
development of an individual and could not be understood without looking into the social and
cultural context. Furthermore, Vygotskys ideas about cognitive development have become
major influences in psychology and education today (Lucas & Corpuz, 2007). Theorists suggested
that romantic relationship has a great role in the academic performance of adolescents. Parents,
peers, and partners, on the other hand, cooperate, collaborate and enrich the learning experience
(Lucas & Corpuz, 2007). In this way, adolescents who are more knowledgeable can help in
the cognitive development of their partner.

In another way, romantic relationship gives more negative effects on the academic
performance of adolescents. Teens nowadays consider romantic relationship as the number one
source of stress (Manning et al., 2009). It results from the break-ups or conflicts with partner. Even
those who give more importance on academics, spending time with ones partner may also serve
as a distraction. Myers (2010) also said that:
 For university students, relationships consume much of life. How much of your
waking life is spent talking with people? One sampling of 10,000 tape recordings of half-
minute slices of students waking hours (using belt-worn recorders) found them talking to
someone 28% of the time and that doesnt count the time they spent to someone (Mehl &
Pennebaker, 2003). In 2008, the average American 13-17 year-old sent or received1742
text messages per month (pp. 393-394).

This time spent with the partner would consume much time that must be allotted for
studying. Considering the time management of a student, romantic relationship affects the
academic performance. As stated by Crissey (2006) in her study about impact of romantic
relationship in high school girls, there is really a challenge in "balancing romantic relationship and
academic performance" in a teenager's life. It gives pressure on how to maintain the romantic side
and the academic works as well. She also pointed out that there is more than the pressure someone
will going to feel if there is a competition inside the classroom for the academic awards at the end
of the school year.

Crissey (2006) then added that having a romantic affair especially when you are just a
student would not just give a "source of stress" but also a disturbance. Having a romantic
relationship is really disturbing because a student will deal on managing time between the school
and in the romantic side that somehow leads to give academic works a lesser priority.

Stress is a continuous feeling of worry about work or personal life that prevents someone
from relaxing. Campbell, as cited by Crissey (2006), says that stress is a condition or effect that is
bad and can cause some problems. For example, students who are having any romantic affair will
have a higher percentage of stress than those who don't have because instead of focusing to their
academic work and academic stresses, they also commit their time to their relationship.

Morris & Maisto (1995) added that anxiety which can be taken from internal and external
forces brings about stress. They also described how someone or something frustrates individuals
when it stands between them and their goals. This would cause a dilemma on irreconcilable
demands, opportunity, needs or goals. They added that delays, lack of resources, losses, failure
and discrimination are the primary cause of aggravation.
On the other situation, negative effects of romantic relationships is very evident in the report of
Namaganda (2009) that developing feelings of love, two weeks before exams can lead to lack of
concentration during the time a learner should be revising and thus failure (para.
6). Thus, Gastone Byamugisha (as cited in Namaganda, 2010) a psychologist and lecturer at
Kyambogo University said that heart-break is not the only cause of students failure in exams.

Moreover, Furman, Brown & Feiring (1999) stated in their book entitled The
Development of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence that romantic relationship at an early
age is the cause of higher rates of drug use, minor delinquency, and psychological or behavioral
difficulties, as well as lower levels of academic achievement that those who are not currently
involved in a relationship or who delay romantic activity until later in adolescence.

In conclusion, relationships and academics cant be joined together. On one side, the
student is spending time with his/her lifelong partner, but on the other side, the student is busy
trying to fulfill other responsibilities in school like making projects, studying, and maintaining
grades.

On the other hand, studies about romantic relationship and its effects to academic
performance revealed different results.

The study of Luqman (2009) on romantic relationship and its effects on academic
performance, identity and self-esteem revealed that there is no relationship on the grade point
average and the dating status of adolescents. The variables he considered were dating status,
intimacy, self-worth and personality status. However, in his methodology, he only considered the
students grade in the latest exam. This would make his data less accurate because initial level
academic performance of the respondents was not recorded. The purpose of having an initial level
of academic performance is to have a comparison of before and after situations which will predict
whether the academic performance of the respondent has increased or decreased during the course
of romantic relationship. He then suggested that initial levels of academic achievement of students
should be considered in the future research about romantic relationship and its effects to academic
performance to get more accurate results.

On the other hand, relationship between dating status and academic achievement on grades
8, 9 and 10 in Santa Clara University in California were studied by Quatman, Sampson, Robinson
and Watson (2001). The result of the study showed that higher frequency in dating would imply a
lower academic performance. It is because most of the romantic experiences showed higher levels
of depressive symptoms and lower levels in academic motivation. However, this study focuses on
younger population. The results may not be the case in the more mature age group.

In another study, a dissertation of Crissey (2006) focused on the differences of gender on

the high school academic outcomes which were influenced by romantic relationships. The study
found out that when students divided their attention to education and romance, there was a negative
outcome on the academic performance especially when they take too much concern on their
romantic relationships. This situation occurs mostly on girls because of the school romantic
climate where romance is more valued. On the other hand, the study showed that boys academic
well-being is being slightly affected. The increased risk of sexual activity mainly affects this
situation (Crissey, 2006). However, data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
Health (as cited in Allen, 2010) revealed a different result in which males academic performance
is negatively affected by the romantic climate.

A dissertation of Stefan (2006) which is a qualitative study on the impact of romantic

relationship on the academic performance of high school girls applies merely on the western
culture. Results of the study showed that there is really a social pressure for teenage girls who
are involved in dating. She also found out this societal pressure means that girls are engaged in
this kind of dating situation merely because of some influences peers, magazines, televisions,
etc. Sometimes, if a girl don't engage herself in dating, some may considered her as "weird", maybe
because in the western society today, there's no more thing such as Maria Clara's, or those that are
a little bit conscious/ really don't engage in dating as well as romantic relationships. She said that
majority of the people would expect girls to already have a dating partner especially when girls
reach into their adolescent stage. She also added that this dating is usually considered as a threshold
or the first step towards romantic relationships. After conducting her study, she concluded that
dating/romantic relationships have "negative and positive" outcomes into the academic
performance of someone involved positive in the sense that this dating thingy gives
inspiration/motivation for girls to do well in their academic works, if and only if girls will know
how to manage time wisely and properly and that girls will not take dating seriously. However, it
is negative on the other hand because it will just cause "distraction".
 Phelps (2007) studied about the influence of partners, parents and peers of African
American Youth to their school achievement. He considered dividing the samples by race and he
found some difference that each variable influence to the romantic relationship for the Anglo and
African American sub-samples. He concluded that effects of academic achievement vary on race.
Part of the result of his study is that peers also affect to the academic performance of the
respondents. For the African American, it is their peers academic orientation that affects the
academic performance while for Anglo Americans, both peers academic orientation and
behaviors towards romantic relationship affects their academic performance.

The result of the study of Phelps (2007) implies that factors assumed to affect academic
performance of students such as personal relationships vary in each race.

Moreover, Furman (2002) stated that there has still been a great interest of romantic
relationships because this interest sparks from the observation that these relationships are
significant to adolescents lives. A lot of research have been made about this topic but most of
these studies center on Euro-American youths or mostly Western societies. Western culture has
differences to Asian culture especially on the social aspects. Example would be perceptions on
dating.

Western culture has differences to Asian culture especially on the social aspects. Example
would be perceptions on dating. To the researchers knowledge, we havent found some studies
focusing on the Asians romantic relationships.

In connection with this, our study will focus on the effects of romantic relationship to the
academic performance of Filipino students. Since we have known that teachers have higher
expectations to their students, increased workloads, challenging exercises, projects and
assignments are given to the students. This notion is also supported by Manning, Giordano,
Longmore, &Hocevar (cited in Cui & Fincham, 2011) which state that college is the time when
studies are more stressful than before. It is also characterized by a shift of sleeping and eating
habits, more school-related works and new responsibilities (Umar, Shaib, Aituisi, Yakubu, &
Bada, 2010). Additionally, Chickering (as cited in Pham, n.d) states that serious development stage
for young adults. Considering the romantic relationships involved and the amount of pressure
given to the students by their teachers, we assumed that there will be an effect to the academic
performance of the students.