The main objective of the study was to develop an understanding of young girls perception of romantic relations in collectivistic culture. On the basis of literature review, a focus group guideline was developed. Following the guidelines, two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in two different colleges of Rawalpindi. Parents of the girls were contacted to seek their permission before recruiting the volunteer girls for the FGDs. Informed consent was taken from the participants. Seven girls participated in each FGD. Age of the participating girls ranged from 16 to 18 years, and they were 11th and 12th grade students. Both focus group discussions were recorded and latter transcribed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the FGDs data. Three main themes were identified in thematic analysis (1) Intimacy, (2) Passion, and (3) Negative evaluation. Intimacy was further classified into six sub-themes namely companionship, expectations, sharing, understanding, significance/ valuation, and closeness. Passion emerged to have three sub-themes namely attraction, fascinations, and dating. The third theme, negative evaluation, was further divided into five sub-themes i.e., lack of sincerity, lack of trust, lack of commitment, negative dating attitude, and disadvantages. Thematic map developed on the basis of results showed that perception of the construct of romantic relations is multidimensional in religious collectivist societies, consisting of a hierarchy of themes and sub-themes with positive and negative notions. Findings of the study provides a perspective of romantic relations by adolescent girls living in eastern religious collectivist society.

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