Romantic relationships of young people in a divided society. Evidence from a large-scale probability survey of 16-year-olds

This study investigates how 16 years olds navigate forming romantic relationships in Northern Ireland, a society highly divided by religion, utilising the 2023 Young Life and Times to run multinominal regression analysis examining what characteristics influence the likelihood of dating someone of a different religion (same, different, or don’t know). The findings suggest religious identity, religiously segregated social environments, and where the young person met their partner influenced the likelihood of dating someone from a different religion. Drawing on contact theory, young people moving in segregated spaces may playing a role in barriers to mixed-religion dating. Evidence points to meeting on social media as a way to overcome these barriers to a degree, however school is the primary way young people are meeting partners and attending a highly segregated school associates with same-religion dating even when considering where they met their partner.