Abstract Book of the 7th International Conference on Research in Psychology
Year: 2026
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“You are the One for Me”: Exploring Amatonormative Attitudes in the Indian ContextKrishna Upadhyay, Shagun Gupta, Ralitsa D’souza, Ananya Magar, Anshpreet Kaur, Saniya Jiji, Ishita Bhattacharya
ABSTRACT:
The current study aims to examine individuals’ perspectives towards amatonormativity, its underlying factors and lays a foundation for research of amatonormativity in the Indian context, adding to the limited research on amatonormativity. This study employs a qualitative research method through semi-structured interviews to examine amatonormative attitudes in the Indian population of the age range of 19-30 years. Convenience sampling method was used to recruit 23 individuals (11 females and 12 males) for the study with the inclusion criteria of being born and raised in India, and being fluent in English and/or Hindi. The interviews were aimed at assessing participants’ attitudes towards various aspects of amatonormative relationships such as marriage, polyamorous relationships, being single and so on, for both self as well as for others. The data obtained through the interviews was analysed using the “Inductive Thematic Analysis” (ITA) technique, by following the six phases of thematic analysis as given by Clarke and Braun (2013). Through thematic analysis, 5 themes were found: Attitude towards Non-amatonormative Relationships, Hierarchy and Balance in Relationships, Romantic Relationships as a Means of Fulfilment and Stability, Societal Expectations and Pressure, and Relationship Termination. The results of this study can be utilised to frame the preliminary items for the development of quantitative measure of amatonormativity.
Keywords: Non-traditional Relationships, Inductive Thematic Analysis, Indian Social Norms, Interpersonal Relationships, Romantic Relationships