Jaira Drew V. Loyola, Jan Alexa Kate L. Padunan, Weilyn C. Punto
Abstract:
With the rising phenomenon of young adults settling into casual or noncommittal relationships, the researchers
were interested in Calamba City college students’ situationship experiences. They aim to seek answers as to
how students felt and experienced in situationships, thus they conducted a study shedding light in their
experiences. The researchers used sexual script theory (SST) by Gagnon & Simon (1998) as theoretical
framework of the study, hence, became the basis in constructing the research questions, as well as the
interview guide questions which circles around the following concepts: intra-psychic, cultural, and
interpersonal scripts. Intra-psychic scripts focused on the participants’ personal experiences while cultural
scripts pointed on social norms based on their respective environments, and interpersonal scripts delved on
their interactions with other people in a romantic or sexual way. Applying the hermeneutic phenomenological
approach, 6 college students were interviewed about their lived experiences about their current situationships
anchoring on the SST’s intra-psychic, cultural, and interpersonal scripts. The researchers discovered that young
adults feel uncertain towards their situationship partners and the current state of their relationship; the
absence of labels, despite the presence of intimacy, often seen in committed relationships caused emotional
conflicts in the situationship. The results gathered overall implied complex feelings tied in undefined and
boundary-lacking relationships. Further research is recommended in exploring the nature and peoples’
viewpoints in situationships to fully understand this phenomenon.
Keywords: situationship, casual relationship, college students, sexual script theory, phenomenology
1. Journal Description 2. Select Journal a. Declaration of Originality b. Select the Journal c. Paper Formatting d. Initial Manuscript Submission e. Peer Review Process f. Manuscript Revision g. Editing Services h. Final Manuscript Submission i. Acknowledgement to Publish j. Copyright Matters k. Inhouse Publication