Programme: VEGA /0015/26
Duration: 1. 1. 2026 – 31. 12. 2029
Principal Investigator: Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková
Researchers: Mária Dudžáková, Viera Poláková, Veronika Valkovičová

The research project explores the use of digital technologies within intimate partnerships among young adults in the period of so-called emerging adulthood. In doing so, it pays particular attention to issues of control and to the ways in which digital boundaries are established and protected. Its specific aim is to investigate, through in-depth interviews and focus groups, how individual understandings of values such as privacy, autonomy, and trust shape the management of privacy and expectations within partnerships. The project’s scientific objectives are driven by a need to better understand generational specificities in the negotiation of relational boundaries. Boundary violations—manifesting as digital coercive control—constitute a significant social problem. Adolescents and young adults are especially vulnerable in this regard, as they often lack the skills necessary to effectively establish and maintain digital boundaries in intimate relationships.