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“I’ll never be in a relationship like that again”: Personal growth following romantic relationship breakups
Abstract
This study investigated the prevalence and correlates of personal growth and distress following romantic relationship breakups. Causal attributions for why the relationship declined and ended, personality factors, gender, and initiator status were examined as correlates of growth and distress in 92 undergraduates who had experienced a recent romantic relationship breakup. In regard to the prevalence of growth, respondents reported, on average, five types of personal growth they thought might improve their future romantic relationships. Correlates of self–reported growth included causal attributions to environmental factors and the personality factor of Agreeableness. Women reported more growth than did men. Factors related to higher levels of distress included causal attributions to the ex–partner and to environmental factors surrounding the previous relationship. The importance of assessing growth following relationship breakups and of accounting for the environmental context of close relationships is discussed.
... In terms of gender, women might experience a higher short-term decrease but also higher long-term increase of perceived control after relationship losses than men [41,42]. Especially in women, relationship losses have been associated with differences and changes in perceived control [46][47][48]. ...
... H5. Perceived control is higher in individuals who have (versus have not) experienced the respective loss in the previous years (stress-related growth) [41][42][43]. ...
... H7. Perceived control increases gradually in the years after the respective loss (Motivational Theory of Lifespan Development; [1] stress-related growth; [41][42][43]). ...
Background
Previous research suggests that romantic relationships play a crucial role for perceived control. However, we know surprisingly little about changes in perceived control before and after the end of romantic relationships.
Methods
Based on data from the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a nationally representative household panel study from Germany, we examined changes of perceived control in the years around separation from a partner ( N = 1,235), divorce ( N = 423), and the death of a partner ( N = 437).
Results
Multilevel analyses revealed that external control beliefs were higher in but not beyond the first year after separation from a partner. Internal and total control beliefs increased gradually in the years after separation. Moreover, internal control beliefs were higher in and especially beyond the first year after the death of a partner compared to the years before. No evidence was found that perceived control already changed in the years before relationship losses or in the years around a divorce.
Conclusion
Taken together, these findings point toward stress-related growth of perceived control after some relationship losses–especially separation and the death of a partner.
... Prior research on specific emotional reactions to relationship dissolution, though, has been mixed. On the one hand, some studies have found that initiator status was not associated with sadness or anger (Sbarra, 2006), distress (Eastwick et al., 2008;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003), emotional recovery (Sbarra & Emery, 2005), or growth (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). However, other studies have demonstrated differences with recipients experiencing more distress than initiators (Boelen & Reijntjes, 2009;Davis et al., 2003;Field et al., 2009;Koessler et al., 2019a;Perilloux & Buss, 2008), especially when the breakup was unexpected (Boelen & Reijntjes, 2009;Field et al., 2009). ...
... Prior research on specific emotional reactions to relationship dissolution, though, has been mixed. On the one hand, some studies have found that initiator status was not associated with sadness or anger (Sbarra, 2006), distress (Eastwick et al., 2008;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003), emotional recovery (Sbarra & Emery, 2005), or growth (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). However, other studies have demonstrated differences with recipients experiencing more distress than initiators (Boelen & Reijntjes, 2009;Davis et al., 2003;Field et al., 2009;Koessler et al., 2019a;Perilloux & Buss, 2008), especially when the breakup was unexpected (Boelen & Reijntjes, 2009;Field et al., 2009). ...
... Not finding a difference in overall positive or negative valence of the accounts between ghosters and ghostees contrasts with prior research showing breakup recipients experience more distress than initiators (Boelen & Reijntjes, 2009;Davis et al., 2003;Field et al., 2009;Koessler et al., 2019a;Perilloux & Buss, 2008), but is consistent with other prior research showing no differences between initiators and recipients in breakups (Sbarra, 2006;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). It also aligns with ostracism research suggesting that both parties experience emotional distress Zadro et al., 2016). ...
Although ghosting (i.e., unilaterally ending a relationship by ceasing communication) has only recently entered the lexicon, it is a regularly used form of relationship dissolution. However, little research has examined the emotional experiences of ghosting, particularly the experiences of those on both sides of the ghosting process. In a multi-method study, participants who had both ghosted and been ghosted in previous romantic relationships (N = 80) provided narratives of their experiences and completed questionnaires. The narrative responses were analyzed by coders and by using LIWC. Ghosters and ghostees used similar overall levels of positively and negatively valenced words to describe their experiences, but ghosters were more likely to express guilt and relief, whereas ghostees were more likely to express sadness and hurt feelings. Ghostees also experienced more of a threat to their fundamental needs - control, self-esteem, belongingness, meaningful existence - than ghosters.
... In fact, breakups are considered as one of the most stressful and traumatic experiences during early adulthood (Low et al., 2012;Shulman et al., 2017;Sprecher et al., 1998). After a breakup, an individual can experience the different phases of grief due to the loss of a significant intimate relationship (Harvey & Miller, 2000;Sánchez & Martínez, 2014;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). During this process, some people may suffer from breakup distress, a severe, debilitating, and often prolonged cluster of feelings and thoughts following a romantic breakup (Field at al., 2009). ...
... Attributions refer to the search of a meaning or explanation of events experienced (Sinclair et al., 2011;Stein et al., 2009). These are identified as significant because they can influence the feelings and responses experienced after an event (Stein et al., 2009;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). In a study by Tashiro and Frazier (2003), it was determined that individuals who attribute the breakup to external causes (causal attributions to the ex-partner or environmental factors) had higher levels of distress. ...
... These are identified as significant because they can influence the feelings and responses experienced after an event (Stein et al., 2009;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). In a study by Tashiro and Frazier (2003), it was determined that individuals who attribute the breakup to external causes (causal attributions to the ex-partner or environmental factors) had higher levels of distress. ...
Romantic breakups are considered one of the most stressful events experienced by young adults. Although the Breakup Distress Scale (BDS) is one of the most widely used instruments to measure breakup distress, there is limited evidence regarding its psychometric properties. Thus, we sought to adapt and validate a Spanish version of the BDS. The sample consisted of 179 Dominican young adults (78% female, 87% heterosexual, and 94% currently single), between the ages of 18 and 30 who experienced at least one breakup in the last 5 years. Parallel analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a robust one-factor structure. Additionally, the BDS scores exhibited high internal consistency reliability and item-rest correlations. Moreover, structural equation modeling indicated that those who initiated the breakup experienced less breakup distress than non-initiators, congruent with the literature. These combined findings suggest that the Spanish version of the BDS has good psychometric and validity properties.
... The positive personality change that occurs as a result of adversarial or traumatic relationship events, such as relationship dissolution or bereavement, has been well-established in the PTG literature (see, e.g., Anders et al., 2011;Infurna et al., 2017;Michael & Cooper, 2013;Owens & Fowers, 2019;Park et al., 1996;Sbarra & Emery, 2005;Schaefer & Moos, 2001;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). The impact of relational conflict is especially relevant for scholars looking to advance theories for PTG and personality change. ...
... However, although adverse life events can be unexpected and discrete, they are typically the culmination of ongoing interactions between people that make discrete outcomes such as dissolution foreseeable (Joel et al., 2017;VanderDrift et al., 2009). 2 Consider, for example, divorce or the dissolution of a long-term partnership. Relationship dissolution has been examined as a catalyst for PTG, with several studies finding evidence of positive personality change following the end of a relationship (e.g., Herbert & Popadiuk, 2008;Park et al., 1996;Samios et al., 2014;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). However, most relationship dissolution is preceded by a protracted period of deteriorating relationship quality and interpersonal conflict. ...
... Relationships have featured prominently in PTG and personality change research, either as a source of adversity that prompts the need for change and growth or as the means through which people exhibit change and grow following adversity (Anusic & Lucas, 2014;Bonnano et al., 2004;Bourassa et al., 2015;Drabek, 1975;Frazier & Cook, 1993;Mancini, 2019;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003;Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996. Close relationships are an essential part of many people's lives and provide an important lens through which to examine the motivational forces that prompt people to change for better or for worse. ...
People have a tremendous ability to grow and change for the better following adverse life events. This capacity for growth has captured the attention of psychologists interested in understanding the mechanisms underpinning both personality and well-being. This paper advocates for a greater integration of relationship science into this area of study as a means of advancing post-traumatic growth and personality change research. Relationships, both as an impetus for change and as evidence of growth, have featured consistently in the post-traumatic growth and adversity literatures. Drawing from interdependence theory in particular, this paper highlights how the unique structure of close relationships and relationship dynamics can be applied to address outstanding theoretical questions related to the advancement of post-traumatic growth research as well as offers a critique of the practice of using relationship outcomes (e.g., connection) as evidence of post-traumatic growth. Finally, this paper encourages psychologists across subdisciplines to share their unique skills and insights to help generate more robust psychological theories and methods.
... Genel olarak yorucu ve sancılı olan ayrılık sürecini bireyler psikolojik olarak farklı duygulanım düzeylerinde deneyimlemektedir. Ayrılıklar çoğunlukla üzüntülü olmakta ve bazı bireylerde psikolojik bozukluklara bile neden olabilmektedir (Sprecher, Felmlee, Metts, Fehr, & Vanni, 1998;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). Tashiro ve Frazier (2003) yaptığı araştırmada ayrılık sonrası süreçte ayrılan ve terk edilenin aynı seviyede stres yaşadıklarını ifade etmiştir. ...
... Tashiro ve Frazier (2003) yaptığı araştırmada ayrılık sonrası süreçte ayrılan ve terk edilenin aynı seviyede stres yaşadıklarını ifade etmiştir. Romantik ilişkilerde ayrılığın sonucunda derin üzüntü, kalp kırıklığı ve öfke gibi negatif etkilere neden olan tepkiler oluşabilmektedir (Barber & Cooper 2014;Simpson 1990;Sprecher, 1994;Tashiro & Frazier 2003). Barber ve Cooper (2014) romantik ilişkide ayrılığın hemen ardından gelen stresli durumun aşamalı olarak altı ay sonra iyileşmeye başlayacağını ifade etmiştir. ...
... Alanyazın incelendiğinde ayrılık süreçlerinin negatif etkileri üzerinde durulduğu, ayrılık sonrasının olumlu etkileri üzerinde sınırlı sayıda araştırma olduğu görülmektedir. Yapılan çalışmalardan birinde romantik ilişkilerde yaşanan ayrılık sonrası stresi, affedicilik ve travma sonrası gelişim gibi pozitif duyguların olumlu etkilediği görülmüştür (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). İlişkilerde affedicilik öfke, anksiyete, depresyon ile negatif bir ilişki içinde aynı zamanda yaşam doyumu, huzur, dışadönüklük ve empati ile de pozitif bir ilişki içindedir (Thompson & diğerleri, 2005;Worthington & diğerleri, 2005). ...
Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretim Programlarında Savaş ve Barış Kavramlarına Yer Veriliş Durumları
... People who believe they have no control over a breakup or future relationships tend to develop more depressive symptoms than those who think otherwise (Peterson, Rosenbaum, & Conn, 1985). However, there are also findings that did not observe the difference between the initiator and non-initiator of a breakup in terms of emotional distress (Sbarra, 2006;Simpson, 1990;Tashiro and Frazier, 2003). Since these studies do not systematically differ from each other in terms of the types of dependent variables used, the time period elapsed since the breakup, or whether the respondents are from a complete/ incomplete family, these conflicting results are confusing. ...
... Studies suggest that individuals who take responsibility for breaking up a romantic relationship adapt better to a breakup (Collins, 1989) than those who have no control over that decision, and therefore respond with greater intensity of sadness and depression (Frazier & Cook, 1993;Field & al., 2009;Sprecher & al., 1998). On the other hand, there are also findings that did not observe the difference between the initiator and non-initiator of a breakup in terms of emotional distress (Sbarra, 2006;Simpson, 1990;Tashiro and Frazier, 2003). Breakup initiator can experience negative emotions just like the non-initiator, therefore the initiator status cannot in itself consistently predict the intensity of reaction to the termination of a relationship (Waller & MacDonald, 2010). ...
... Another specific objective relates to examining the conditions under which such a difference exists. The above-mentioned inconsistent results (Sbarra, 2006;Simpson, 1990;Tashiro and Frazier, 2003) point to the existence of potential mediators, and the moderation effect of coping mechanisms and attachment dimensions was examined in this paper. Previous studies suggest that self-esteem can be a significant predictor of emotional distress after a breakup (Waller & MacDonald, 2010), as well as relationship length, relationship satisfaction, commitment, partner dependence, attachment type, existence of alternative partners, coping mechanisms, self-esteem (Fine & Sacher, 1997;Sprecher & al., 1998;Frazier & Cook, 1993;Chung & al., 2003;Koch, 2020). ...
The aim of this paper is to examine the difference in the intensity of the breakup distress between the initiator and the non-initiator, as well as whether this difference is moderated by coping strategies and inner working models according to the attachment theory. The sample used in the research is convenient and consists of 387 respondents. The age range is between 18-40 (M=23.90; SD=4.22). We used the Close Relationship Experience Questionnaire (Brenan, Clark, & Shaver, 1995), the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997) and the Breakup Distress Scale (Field & al., 2010). The t-test was performed for the independent samples to test the difference between the breakup initiators and non-initiators in the variable of grief after a breakup (t(365)=4.62; p<.01). Within the constructed prediction model, a total of four predictors showed an independent contribution to the explanation of experienced grief after a breakup: the status of the initiator of the breakup, coping aimed at solving problems, coping with avoidance and anxiety. Later, by testing the contribution of the predictor and the variable, the status of the initiator was obtained as a statistically significant interaction with anxiety. Respondents who have low anxiety do not experience a high level of distress after a breakup and do not differ from each other depending on whether the initiators of the relationship were them or their partner. Respondents who have high anxiety experience a noticeably higher level of emotional distress after the breakup, but there are also differences in that level depending on who initiated the breakup. If the partner initiated the termination, the level of experienced distress will be significantly higher. It seems that presenting as a stressor can be a trigger of an intense emotional reaction, considering that such people are sensitive to rejection by others.
... Moreover, people who can construct meaning in a breakup and find explanations for their pain can transform the breakup into opportunities for change Neimeyer, 2001). People also can attain personal growth through the recovery process, such as by meaningfully reflecting on personal traits and their intimate relationships, and by obtaining positive development through social support (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). ...
... This process matches the belief in SFBT that clients' own capacity to generate effective meanings from their experience of loss is much more important than accepting the reality of the loss (Simon, 2010). Tashiro and Frazier (2003) similarly found that individuals can report positive changes following a breakup such as feeling more self-confident, independent and stronger. ...
... Other papers found that romantic relationships affect students psychologically (Brendgen, Vitaro, Doyle, Markiewicz and Bukowski, 2002;Chow, Ruhl and Buhremester, 2015;Jouriles, Garrido, Rosenfield and McDonald, 2009;Leung, Moore, Karnilowicz and Lung, 2011;Seiffge and Burk, 2012;Soller, 2014;Westcott, 1987). Moreover, some researchers decided to study the reasons and the impacts of the breakup stage, which probably are stress and depression (Fitzpatric, 2004;Hendy, Can, Joseph and Scherer, 2013;Tashiro and Frazier, 2003;Westcott, 1987). This study's purpose is to find out the reasons behind choosing to be in a romantic relationship and its impacts, and the factors that lead to break up and its consequences. ...
... Then he added that unlike most of the studies that say that women are victims, he figured out that men here are the victims because women are the leavers here, not men who suffer from negative emotions after break up. Tashiro and Frazier (2003) distributed a study among 92 undergraduate students about breaking up from another perspective. Women in this study see break up as a chance to develop themselves. ...
Understand how the romantic relationships affect the students academically and psychologically
... Average GPA is about 3.38 to 3.39. 2 This category included two sub-groups, 1) those currently first-time involved (N ¼ 63); 2) those currently involved with last breakup over 12 months (N ¼ 112). We combined them together as the reference category described above because there is no significant difference in their depression level, the lowest level among the four categories. ...
... In fact, most research on romantic breakups and related outcomes used nonrandom samples drawn from university students with small sample sizes, 8 and to date research on the factors which might influence different reactions to breakups for young adults has been scare, and most of them used convenience samples. 2,19 Given the exploratory nature of this research topic, a convenience sample is also acceptable in terms of offering some empirical evidence for the theoretical hypotheses and enlightening future research with larger representative samples. ...
Objective
The role of sexual attitudes has been largely ignored in explaining different emotional reactions to breakups among young adults. The authors examined the role of conservative sexual attitudes as a moderator of the relationship between breakups and depressive symptoms. Participants: Participants were 428 undergraduate students at a mid-western university. Data collection was completed in 2013. Methods: Participants completed the questionnaires in class or at home in this cross-sectional survey. OLS regression and Structural equation modeling were used in data analysis. Results: Increased level of sexual conservativeness significantly exacerbated depression after the breakup for those college students who reported sexual behavior with their ex-partner. Conclusions: Although conservative sexual attitudes may show positive effects in promoting healthy sexual behavior, it was found here to be detrimentally related to depression after breakups for college students. This information may help university counselors gain a deeper understanding of post-breakup depression of college students.
... However, in some relationships, individuals might experience subtraction of positive self-attributes or addition of negative attributes by, for example, developing new bad habits. Consequently, such a bond's dissolution would provide a sense of relief when it ended (Lewandowski Jr & Bizzoco, 2007) and allow rediscovery of neglected aspects of the self (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). ...
While research has focused on self-concept before or after
marriage dissolution, very little research has investigated how
individuals understand and evaluate themselves during the
longer-lasting and usually highly conflictual divorce process.
Qualitative interview data with Lithuanians 6 months or more
into their divorce processes suggest that divorcees experience
marital dissolution as an interchange of three main processes:
losing valued self-parts, a (re)birth of a more valued self, and
hanging-self as being stuck in ongoing uncertainty with a need
to protect valued parts of oneself. The theoretical and practical
implications of these research findings are discussed.
... Our study focused exclusively on romantic breakup as a stressful life event, and most research has found no gender differences in experienced distress following breakup between men and women (Simpson, 1987;Sprecher, 1994;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). Perhaps gender differences in making sense of stressful life events can be found in the context of other stressful events. ...
Background:
Making adaptive meaning of stressful life experiences has been identified as an important determinant of adjustment. The Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale (ISLES) was developed to assess the outcome of meaning-making processes in the face of negative events.
Aims:
The psychometric properties of this scale have not been measured in Iranian populations. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the 16-item and 6-item versions of ISLES with a sample of 502 university students who had experienced relationship dissolution.
Results:
Findings support a two-factor structure with acceptable validity and reliability. Positive correlations between the scores of ISLES with Centrality of Event Scale and PTSD symptoms provided evidence of concurrent validity.
Conclusion:
The results of measurement invariance indicated that both the 16-item and 6-item versions of ISLES are gender invariant and can be used to assess meaning-made in both men and women.
... In this regard, Cavanaugh (2014) suggests that relationship reminders may backfire when consumers have experienced a breakup and no longer have the highlighted social relationship. This is because when people go through a relationship breakup, they experience negative emotional changes such as guilt, sorrow, and anger (Sprecher et al., 1998;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). At the same time, when people experience a relationship breakup, they also hope to recapture the relationship they have lost (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). ...
This research investigates the effect of using relationship (breakup) reminders in advertising on click‐through rates. While previous research has found that relationship reminders may backfire when consumers lack or no longer have certain social relationships (e.g., close friends, family, or a romantic partner), the authors propose that ad messages encouraging consumers after a relationship breakup, as compared with simply reminding them of a current relationship, will increase consumer perceptions of social support from a brand. This is because consumers may find readily available social support from a brand when coping with a relationship breakup. This, in turn, will pique their interest in the brand and prompt them to seek more information. Across two experimental studies, the results show that consumers who are exposed to ad messages encouraging them after a relationship breakup (vs. reminding them of a current relationship) feel greater social support, leading to higher click‐through rates. Furthermore, this effect is moderated by destiny beliefs. These findings contribute to the implicit theories of relationships and the consumer–brand relationship literature by demonstrating how destiny beliefs are important to understanding consumer responses to advertisements utilizing relationship (breakup) messages. Furthermore, the findings can benefit marketers when designing relationship reminders in online advertising.
... For example, Waller and MacDonald found that self-esteem was strongly associated with break-up distress: low self-esteem individuals experience more distress than others when rejected by their partner [9]. Tashiro and Frazier investigated the effect of the Big Five on break-up distress, and they found that neuroticism was positively correlated with break-up distress [10]. Recent research has revealed that to the Big Five, break-up distress is also associated with some dark personality traits. ...
Negative emotions caused by break-up are the key work of university students’ psychological intervention. It is important to explore the specific factors of break-up distress for university students’ psychological intervention. Therefore, we investigated 869 university students to examine the effect of Machiavellianism and psychological capital on break-up distress, as well as its gender difference. The results indicated that high Machiavellians experience more break-up distress. Moreover, through structural equation models, we found that as for female university students, psychological capital mediated the relationship between Machiavellianism and break-up distress. However, as for male university students, the mediation effect was not significant. It means that for female university students, psychological capital acted as the mechanism to connect Machiavellianism and break-up distress.
... A satisfying romantic relationship can increase trust and happiness between partners (Robles et al., 2014). There is also a significant increase in individual distress when a relationship brakes up (Tashiro and Frazier, 2003). Studies have found that when relationship satisfaction is low, individuals show lower relationship commitment, care more about the cost of relationship investment (Rusbult, 1980), and seek more alternative relationships. ...
This study investigates the effects of loneliness and empathy on romantic relationship satisfaction and phubbing. Loneliness plays a mediating role in romantic relationship satisfaction and phubbing. The level of empathy moderates these mediating effects. Five hundred and four Chinese adults completed tests of romantic relationship satisfaction, phubbing, loneliness, and empathy. The results show that romantic relationship satisfaction is negatively correlated with phubbing. Loneliness mediates this process. Specifically, lower romantic relationship satisfaction leads to more phubbing by increasing loneliness. Our study also shows that the mediating relationship is moderated by the level of empathy. To be more specific, the higher the level of empathy, the stronger the impact of romantic relationship satisfaction on loneliness, and the more phubbing individuals exhibit.
... Indeed, rediscovering a sense of self that is separate from the ex-partner has been associated with better breakup recovery (Larson & Sbarra, 2015) and breakup-related growth (Lewandowski & Bizzoco, 2007). Models of stress and coping have similarly inspired research on people's experiences of both negative (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptoms, Chung et al., 2003), neutral (e.g., lasting personality changes do not seem to occur as a result of a breakup; Allemand et al., 2015), and positive (e.g., stress-related growth; Owenz & Fowers, 2019;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003) outcomes following a breakup. Finally, limited work has drawn on narrative approaches to examine how people make meaning out of the dissolution of their relationships (e.g., Boals & Klein, 2005;Frost et al., 2016). ...
The dissolution of romantic relationships can be conceptualized in many ways, from a distressing event or a consequential life decision to a metric of a relationship's success. In the current review, we assess how relationship science has approached dissolution research over roughly the past 20 years. We identified 207 studies (from 195 papers) published between 2002–2020 that captured relationship dissolution events and coded the papers for relevant features. The most common methodological approach to studying breakups was a self‐report study (92%) in which relationships were tracked over time (72%) and breakups were treated as an outcome variable (79%). These results suggest that most research on dissolution has focused on predictors of it, rather than processes required to uncouple and circumstances surrounding the breakup itself. Coding revealed heterogeneous theoretical approaches, with the most common perspective across papers—social exchange/interdependence theory—informing only 15% of the papers coded. A majority (61%) of samples were representative of the nations, regions, or localities in which the studies were conducted. Yet, samples still tended to be disproportionately comprised of young, white individuals from Western countries. We conclude by discussing potential avenues for moving our understanding of relationship dissolution forward.
... Prior longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have also shown increases in life satisfaction as a function of time since the legal act of divorce (Bowen & Jensen, 2017;Luhmann et al., 2012). Divorce-related variables were not significantly associated with personal growth when entered into the model which is consistent with previous studies showing no links between personal growth and these divorce-related variables (Damo & Cenci, 2021;Marshall et al., 2013;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). However, time since divorce and divorce initiator status emerged as predictors of personal growth but only when personality-related indicators were entered in the final model. ...
Divorce is a major life event that can trigger sudden changes in how adults perceive themselves and operate in their social environments. Some previous evidence has documented changes in personality in reaction to marital dissolution. However, little is known about the determinants of personality development in the post‐divorce period. Guided by the positive personality development model in adulthood, this study examined sociodemographic characteristics, divorce‐related variables, and personality‐related indicators as determinants of life satisfaction and personal growth in divorced adults. Participants included 460 divorced adults who completed self‐reported measures regarding sociodemographic characteristics, divorce‐related variables, and personality development indicators. Results showed that autonomy, environmental mastery, self‐acceptance, emotional self‐regulation indicators, and motivation for personality adjustment goals were associated with post‐divorce life satisfaction. Personal growth was associated with purpose in life, self‐expansion, psychological mindedness, and motivation for personality growth goals. The sociodemographic characteristics and divorce‐related variables differently predicted life satisfaction and personal growth. We discussed the implications of the positive personality development model in understanding post‐divorce personality adjustment and maturity.
... Various other studies have reported several negative effects of the breakup of romantic relationships like stress, anxiety, substance abuse, low self-esteem and confidence, poor physical health (Chung et al., 2002;Fleming et al., 2010;Lewandowski Jr et al., 2006;Rhoades et al., 2011). However, another group of studies has reported few positive effects after bouncing back from such traumatic experiences like a higher level of functioning, interpersonal growth, make them stronger, self-cultivated, and wiser (Hebert and Popadiuk, 2008;Kansky and Allen, 2018;Marshall et al., 2013;Tashiro and Frazier, 2003). There are various studies on the effects of the breakup of romantic relationships, but there is a dearth of literature on reasons for the breakups of romantic relationships. ...
... Penilaian kesedihan putus cinta dan pengaruh negatif telah diprioritaskan dalam banyak penelitian yang telah menyelidiki pembubaran hubungan dengan sedikit perhatian diberikan pada hasil positif yang potensial (Koessler et al., 2019;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). Pendekatan dialektis Cupach (dikutip dari Koessler et al. 2019) dalam hubungan menunjukkan kecenderungan oposisi bisa ada dalam berbagai tahap hubungan. ...
Mobile dating app Bumble has been known as the 'feminist version of Tinder' because it allows women to have complete control over their conversation activities, and is seen as a new technological landscape, where women doing an online dating through the process of initiate conversations, explore relationships ranging from sexual desires. This study uses a Critical approach, with phenomenological methods, with unstructured interviews with 43 female Jabodetabek informants, to answer what experiences they encountered while using Bumble. The results of the study found that Bumble's feature that seemed to empower women allows them to negotiate and participate in creating a dream relationship, even though it is considered to be against traditional gender norms inherent in society, starting from the most abundant and easy-to-find relationships such as friendships, to relationships that require more effort to find, like boyfriends or husbands, as well as other events that they experienced while using the mobile dating app Bumble, from the fun to the disappointment.
... En este modelo, las reacciones ante el evento se clasifican en dos formas, las orientadas a la pérdida, donde se prolonga la fase de sufrimiento y dolor, anclados en la negación del evento generador del sufrimiento y provoca que los individuos tiendan a aislarse. Por el contrario, los individuos orientados a la restauración consiguen reunir elementos para reasignarle nuevos significados a la vida, como atender los cambios vividos, hacer nuevas cosas, distraerse y reencontrarse con antiguas y nuevas relaciones sociales, incluso, muchos de ellos buscan apoyo en terapia profesional o se reconectan con actividades como estudiar (Tashiro y Frazier, 2003), hacer deportes o refugiarse en aspectos religiosos. Algunos investigadores han reportado que la compra de objetos, facilita enfrentar el duelo lo que, según ellos, es una conducta más predominante entre las mujeres, pues acarrea una estrategia de refuerzo de la apariencia y de la autoafirmación (Perilloux y Buss, 2008). ...
El objetivo de este estudio es explorar los mecanismos de afrontamiento de la soledad generada por rupturas amorosas a la luz de la psicología del consumidor, con un enfoque centrado en las motivaciones de resolución de la situación de ruptura de manera no clínica y mediada por la dinámica de consumo de bienes o servicios reparadores. El estudio es de tipo cualitativo, para ello se efectuaron diez entrevistas en profundidad a siete mujeres y tres hombres que experimentaron, en el último año, los efectos y las consecuencias de una ruptura amorosa. Entre los hallazgos se encuentra que los afectados recurren a variadas formas de consumo como la música, libros de apoyo, actividades deportivas y de ocio (ir a cine, viajar), lo que les proporcionó maneras de pasar el tiempo, mantener la mente activa, tener interacción social para divertirse y reconectarse con amigos y familia, de tal forma que pudieron mejorar la relación consigo mismos en esa fase situacional de sus vidas. Se concluye que la mediación de actividades de consumo y el redescubrimiento de nexos sociales son fuentes importantes para reponerse de la ruptura amorosa. El estudio presenta limitaciones en cuanto al número de participantes, pero se logró punto de saturación en la información obtenida.
... Various other studies have reported several negative effects of the breakup of romantic relationships like stress, anxiety, substance abuse, low self-esteem and confidence, poor physical health (Chung et al., 2002;Fleming et al., 2010;Lewandowski Jr et al., 2006;Rhoades et al., 2011). However, another group of studies has reported few positive effects after bouncing back from such traumatic experiences like a higher level of functioning, interpersonal growth, make them stronger, self-cultivated, and wiser (Hebert and Popadiuk, 2008;Kansky and Allen, 2018;Marshall et al., 2013;Tashiro and Frazier, 2003). There are various studies on the effects of the breakup of romantic relationships, but there is a dearth of literature on reasons for the breakups of romantic relationships. ...
Background: Romantic relationships are quite common among young adults, and it has various outcomes, especially on psychosocial well-being. Currently, there is no data available from India. This study aimed to define love from the perspective of young adults and their beliefs associated with it and enumerate the reasons for the breakup of romantic relationships.
Methodology: We conducted an online survey using ‘Google Form’, targeting young adults through social media. The selfadministered questionnaire had questions related to defining love, beliefs related to love, and the reasons for the first five breakups of the romantic relationship. We did thematic analysis for the qualitative data and descriptive data analysis for the quantitative data using ‘R’ software. Common words to describe love was analysed using ‘Word Counter’.
Results: Among the 156 responses, 130 participants (83.3%) had any romantic relationship ever. The mean age of the participants was 24.7 (SD-5). Most of the participants were females (50%), having the highest educational qualification as graduation (36.6%), and with the current relationship as a single/post-breakup (50%). The top five common words used to describe love were - feeling (n = 26), person (n = 23), care (n=17), someone (n=17), feel (n=15). We were able to derive three definitions of love from the respondents’ perspectives. The majority of the participants (86.5%, n=135) believed that romantic love happens only once and reported that true love exists (68.6%). A total of 106 participants ever had a breakup of romantic relationships. The top five reasons for
breakup were incompatibility, no feelings left (bored), cheating, long-distance relationship, and family did not approve.
Conclusion: Love was mainly described as a positive feeling, with most of the participants had belief that it happens only once. The common reasons for breakup were incompatibility and no feelings left
(bored).
... Various other studies have reported several negative effects of the breakup of romantic relationships like stress, anxiety, substance abuse, low self-esteem and confidence, poor physical health (Chung et al., 2002;Fleming et al., 2010;Lewandowski Jr et al., 2006;Rhoades et al., 2011). However, another group of studies has reported few positive effects after bouncing back from such traumatic experiences like a higher level of functioning, interpersonal growth, make them stronger, self-cultivated, and wiser (Hebert and Popadiuk, 2008;Kansky and Allen, 2018;Marshall et al., 2013;Tashiro and Frazier, 2003). There are various studies on the effects of the breakup of romantic relationships, but there is a dearth of literature on reasons for the breakups of romantic relationships. ...
... Furthermore, the dissolution of romantic relationships might lead to psychological distress, such as depression and anxiety. A phone survey revealed that the romantic relationships dissolution was one of the worst events in their daily life (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). Therefore, it's necessary to explore the influencing factors of break-up distress. ...
It has been well documented that Machiavellianism has a positive effect on break-up distress. However, there are few research explored the internal mechanism. In this study, we investigated the mediating role of self-concealment and the moderating role of gender. Machiavellianism Personality Scale, Self-Concealment Scale and Break-up Distress Scale was distributed through an online questionnaire platform. A sample of 869 undergraduate students was received, and their age ranged from 16 to 25 years old (M = 19.48, SD = 1.15). As we predicted, the relationship between Machiavellianism and break-up distress was partially mediated by self-concealment. The direct effect of Machiavellianism on break-up distress and the mediating effect of self-concealment were moderated by gender. Specifically, compared with boys, the effect of Machiavellianism on self-concealment was stronger for girls, while the effect of Machiavellianism on break-up distress was stronger for boys. These findings confirm how Machiavellianism affects break-up distress and provide new intervention ideas for solving the psychological crisis of college students after the dissolution of romantic relationships.
... Given the normative process of romantic exploration during young adulthood, researchers have begun exploring the possible benefits of nonmarital dissolutions. The scarce findings begin supporting the idea that individuals can experience post-traumatic growth, personal growth, and positive emotions following a breakup (Lewandowski & Bizzoco, 2007;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). Further, they may report increased satisfaction and higher relationship quality in their next romantic relationship (Kansky & Allen, 2017). ...
Social relationships are one of the most important facets of well-being and one of the strongest links with both physical and psychological health. Romantic relationships specifically may have a particularly intense impact on well-being due to heightened emotions and cognitions within these close relationships. Prior research has identified the importance of romantic relationships and relationship status for well-being and psychological adjustment, yet less has considered the specific qualities that play a role in this link. I will consider the specific relationship qualities that may particularly benefit or damage well-being. Intimate relationships become increasingly important as individuals transition from dating in adolescence, cohabitating in emerging adulthood, and ultimately marriage in adulthood. I review the extensive literature on the benefits of healthy romantic relationships on well-being, highlighting how each influences the other during different developmental stages of relationships from initiation to dissolution adjustment. I also point to the increasing diversity of understudied romantic experiences (i.e., online, casual, polyamory, arranged versus self-selecting marriages, sexual minority) and highlight important unanswered questions this proliferation leaves open. Future directions for further understanding the unique role of romantic experiences in its association with well-being will be discussed.
... In general, close relationships make people happy and satisfied with life (Regan, 2015). However, the possibility of life changes following the breakup of romantic relationships can be one of the worst events over people's lifetime, despite the positive aspects related to personal growth that come from the experience of relationship loss (Sprecher, 1994;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). In developing interpersonal relationships, communication plays an important role in mutual activities (e.g., dating). ...
Recently, women have increasingly been participating in online communities related to psychological health via Internet use to communicate their stressful events in daily lives to others who have suffered from similar experiences. To explore sensitive and relevant stressors among women and identify common types of stressor, we collected 54,195 documents posted from 10 February 2007, to 14 January 2020 from free discussion boards by age group (20s to over 50s) within the online community for women in South Korea (www.ezday.co.kr). Subsequently, we conducted the computer-assisted text analysis with structural topic modeling (STM) using 10,725 user-generated documents including negative emotional expressions about daily stressful events. Then, based on these results of latent daily stressor-related topics for aiding qualitative content analysis, the current study present multiple stressors as the cause of stress with eight topics (mismatch of expected role demands, problems/lack of communication, interpersonal discontinuity, physical and mental health, discomfort of living, role conflict in interpersonal relationships, problems with maintaining/choosing a career, and family caregiving burden). Consequently, our research suggests text-based analysis to better explore reactivity to stressors that women may disclose in everyday life by exploring the language of psychological stress expressed on social media.
... In that case, after the first idealization step, memory and comparison with the firstunion relationship could lead to disappointment, resulting in reciprocal misunderstandings. In other instances, when divorce is interpreted in a positive way, individuals quickly cope with the stress by reinventing themselves and may experience feelings of freedom and greater happiness (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). Despite the stress related to the first-union separation or divorce, it has been suggested that some resources may be responsible for positive stepcouple development, such as communication skills, social support, relations with former partners, expectations for stepfamily, and working through emotional issues (Whitton et al., 2008). ...
The present work aimed to explore the building process of couple identity for stepcouples' partners. Fifteen Italian women and fifteen Italian men, engaged in a new couple's relationship after first-union separation or divorce, were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed through a Grounded Theory approach. Results showed that the first-union separation experience plays an important role in the process of stepcouple identity building, as it influences the priorities in individual organization of life, qualities, and expectations about new relationships, the importance attributed to individual, couple, and family boundaries, and the choice of the new partner. New functional stepcouple relationships are characterized by a strong sense of shared projects and purposes. This generative dimension, clearly perceived by interviewees as a fundamental characteristic of stepcouple identity, is a resource , in spite of complexity and challenges of stepcouples' life cycle.
... On the contrary, the adjustment may come with more significant ease and might comprise thoughts of relief or a feeling of freedom to delve into new chances. The dissolution or termination of romantic relationships can sometimes lead to personal growth, personal well-being, and positive life transformation, even though the ending may have happened relatively recently (Buehler, 1987;Helgeson, 1994;Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000;Shulman & Connolly, 2013;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). ...
Romantic relationship dissolution (RRD) can be perceived as an upsetting or momentous event and the most stressful and unsettling events that one can encounter in life. The aim of this study to investigate the relationship between sexual involvement in a relationship and romantic relationship resolution and the role of resilience as mediators of this relationship. Two hundred ninety-three emerging young adults (ages 18 to 29) from Klang Valley have participated in this study. The present study used the Resilience Scale (RS), the Core Bereavement Items (CBI), and demographic information items. Obtained results indicated a significant difference in sexual involvement in a relationship on the level of reactions to romantic relationship dissolution. The sexual involvement in the relationship was positively and significantly correlated with romantic relationship dissolution. Specifically, sexual involvement was negatively correlated with resilience, which was, in turn, negatively associated with romantic relationship dissolution. Additionally, results also show that mediation effect for sexual involvement in resilience to romantic relationship resolution was significant. The practical implications for helping professionals were also discussed in this work.
... Tedeschi et al. (2017) confirmed the five-factor structure of the PTGI-X with data of university students of the US, Japan and Turkey. Even though the term "posttraumatic" emphasises that growth occurs in the aftermath of a traumatic event, Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004) use the term traumatic event in a broader way (e.g., PTG has been studied with people after romantic relationship breakups, Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). ...
The Sierra Leonean population has faced severe collective traumata (e.g., civil war, Ebola). Although adversities have a devastating impact on people’s lives, there is strong evidence that the struggle with stressful life events can lead to positive changes, which is called posttraumatic growth (PTG). Across many cultures individuals experience PTG. However, the nature of PTG might be influenced by cultural factors. This study aimed to explore PTG in a Sierra Leonean sample using a convergent parallel mixed methods design. The quantitative study investigated the factor structure of the expanded Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI-X). The qualitative study identified emergent PTG themes. In sum, 360 adults reported on their worst experience and completed the PTGI-X; Additionally, 20 participants took part in in-depth interviews. The original factor structure of the PTGI-X did not apply to this Sierra Leonean sample. A one-factor model including 17 items was supported by confirmatory factor analysis. The qualitative findings revealed PTG dimensions that corresponded to the original ones, which were summarised into the domain “individual growth” (tranquillity and trust, achievement motivation, existential apperception, emphasis on values of life, benevolence). A new domain “collective growth”, which reflected societal changes, was found as well. That means, in addition to a personal positive transformation, a social transformation was revealed. The findings indicated that an individualistic measurement such as the PTGI-X falls short to examine growth dimensions in non-Western cultures. A broader definition of PTG might foster the integration of different cultural and collective elements that emerge in response to stressful events.
... We also matched on relationship-related variables, including relationship status, length, satisfaction, and social support given that (1) self-esteem is associated with less satisfying and shorter-term relationships (Erol & Orth, 2014;Orth et al., 2012) and smaller, lower-quality support networks (Kincaid & Caldwell, 1995;Marshall et al., 2014), and (2) people are more negatively affected by the dissolution of longer, more satisfying relationships (Simpson, 1987), and greater social support buffers against these negative effects (Amato, 2000). We matched on personality traits as self-esteem is associated with neuroticism and extraversion (Robins et al., 2001), and there is some evidence that personality influences responses to dissolution (e.g., more agreeable undergraduates report more personal growth, greater neuroticism predicts greater distress, Tashiro & Frazier, 2003;Tavares & Aassve, 2013). Lastly, following PSM conventions, we matched on demographics (age, gender, ethnicity, and year of data collection) to account for established gender (Stronge et al., 2019) and ethnic differences in wellbeing (i.e., indigenous people of New Zealand [Māori] experience lower wellbeing than Europeans, see Sibley et al., 2011, and OSM). ...
People low in self-esteem are likely more vulnerable to the wellbeing costs of relationship dissolution. Yet, several methodological limitations may mean that prior studies have overestimated such vulnerability. Overcoming prior limitations, we apply propensity score matching (PSM) to compare the later wellbeing of matched samples who experienced a dissolution over the past year ( N = 1,333) versus remained in a romantic relationship ( N = 1,333). Controlling for pre-dissolution wellbeing, people who experienced a dissolution reported lower later wellbeing compared to people who remained in a relationship. Although this pattern was more pronounced for people initially lower in self-esteem, the relative effects were small. Using PSM to provide stringent tests of the wellbeing effects of dissolution reveals a general resilience when experiencing dissolution and indicates that the vulnerability of low self-esteem may be smaller than assumed. Acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the PSM approach, we consider theoretical and methodological implications.
... Contrary to our expectations, the level of religiosity, the presence of children, initiator status did not affect AD. These results resemble some studies finding no effect of these variables (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003;Yilmaz & Fişiloglu, 2005), suggesting the importance of considering other processes that can influence how women cope with the experience of divorce in future studies. Also, and given that we used only one item in order to evaluate the level of religiosity, future studies could consider a complete measure of this construct in order to examine its potential influence on AD. ...
This study aimed to explore the relative contribution of the country of origin associated with adjustment to divorce (AD) and its interactions with several correlate among women from two different cultures, i.e., Iran and Chile. With that purpose, 292 participants, including Muslim Iranian (n=147) and Chilean (n=145) women, completed an AD questionnaire. A hierarchical multiple linear regression test was used to examine the main effect of country of origin, as well as several correlates of AD and their interaction effects. The country of origin was strongly related to AD, with Iranian women reporting lower adjustment levels than Chilean participants. We also identified that the level of prior relationship satisfaction and a new romantic relationship were associated with AD. No interaction effects were identified.
... Relationship loss, in which the relationship with an intimate person is cut off, is one of the most distressing experiences in life (Garimella, Weber, & Dal Cin, 2014;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003) and poses a great threat to mental health (Slotter & Ward, 2015). Individuals may experience identity confusion (Slotter, Gardner & Finkel, 2010) and distressing rumination (Saffrey & Ehrenberg, 2007) in response to relationship dissolution. ...
This study explores how attachment relationships and traumatic events affected an unmarried adult's relationship dissolutions as well as a therapeutic intervention. Thematic Analysis was applied to ten sessions of family therapy utilising counselling transcripts, video recordings, and counselling logs. The client's experiences of attachment relationship and traumatic events included an anxious mother, inconsistent parenting in infancy, physical and emotional abuse and unempathetic parents (the absence of a secure base), parental conflict, and divorce. This is described in terms of the absence of an internal working model (the aggravation of an insecure attachment system), and an anxious attachment style and relationship dissolution in adulthood (the fixation of attachment pattern). Effective therapeutic intervention strategies included providing a secure base, mentalising and facilitating a relational experience to help the client resolve their attachment problems.
... Zwar attestiert ein Großteil der Studien Frauen einen lebhafteren, emotionalen Persönlichkeitsstil (Ahmetoglu, Swami et al., 2010;Schmitt, Realo et al., 2008;Engel, Olson et al., 2002), es existieren allerdings auch Forschungsergebnisse, die entweder keinem Geschlecht (Rubinstein, 2005) oder Männern einen höheren Extrovertiertheit-Wert nachweisen (Feingold, 1994 (Heaven, Smith et al., 2006;Barelds, 2005;Davila, Karney et al., 2003;Watson, Hubbard et al., 2000) sowie negativer Konfliktlösung (Frisbie, Fitzpatrick et al., 2000) gezogen werden. Auch White et al. (2004) (Sprecher, Felmlee et al., 1998, Choo, Levine et al., 1996b und Frauen zudem vermehrt angeben, aufgrund der Trennung persönlich gewachsen zu sein (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). ...
Hintergrund und Ziele Das Phänomen »Liebe« in all seinen Facetten beschäftigt seit Jahrzehnten zahlreiche Wissenschaftler in unterschiedlichen Disziplinen. Nachdem in den 70er und 80er-Jahren mit dem Aufschwung der Gender Studies zahlreiche Studien zu Geschlechtsunterschieden in romantischen Beziehungen durch-geführt wurden, stand in den letzten Jahren der Gender-Aspekt der Liebe allerdings oft nur selten im zentralen wissenschaftlichen Mittelpunkt und dann meist lediglich in Form eng umrissener Fragestel-lungen. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, einen breit gefächerten und ungefilterten Fokus auf die Liebe von Mann und Frau in unterschiedlichen Beziehungsphasen – ihre Unterschiede, aber auch ihre Gemein-samkeiten – zu werfen. Untersucht wurden die Probanden und Probandinnen in Bezug auf ihren Liebesstil, ihre Ausprägung an Leidenschaft, Beziehungsaspekte, Bindungsverhalten, Persönlichkeit sowie Manie und Depression. Material und Methode An der Romantic Love-Studie (Psychiatrische und Psychotherapeutische Klinik des Universitätsklini-kums Erlangen, Arbeitsgruppe: Prof. Dr. med. J. Kornhuber) nahmen 330 Probanden teil. In die vorliegende Arbeit gingen die Daten von 316 Probandinnen und Probanden ein, darunter unter anderem 105 glücklich Verliebte, 58 unglücklich Verliebte und 95 Langzeit-Verliebte auf verschiedene psycho-metrische Merkmale untersucht. Verwendung fanden das Marburger Einstellungs-Inventar für Liebes-stile (MEIL), die Skala zur Erfassung leidenschaftlicher Liebe (Passionate Love Scale, PLS), das Hamburger Persönlichkeitsinventar (HPI), die Bindungsdiagnostische Skala (Relationship Scales Questionnaire, RSQ), die Manie-Selbstbeurteilungsskala (MSS) und das Beck Depressions-Inventar II (BDI II) sowie der Partnerschaftsfragebogen (PFB). Ergebnisse Insgesamt weisen Mann und Frau innerhalb der Romantic Love-Studie viele Gemeinsamkeiten auf (Depression, Manie, Leidenschaft, Bindungsverhalten u.v.m.). Unterschiede zeigen sich vor allem in den Persönlichkeitseigenschaften Risikobereitschaft für den glücklich verliebten und den frisch ge-trennten Mann sowie Extrovertiertheit für die glücklich verliebte und Neurotizismus für die unglücklich verliebte Frau. Innerhalb der Liebesstile fällt der glücklich verliebte Mann durch signifikant schwächere Ergebnisse in Ludus, die Langzeit verliebte Frau hingegen durch vermehrt Eros und ebenso vermindert Ludus auf. Der Vergleich der einzelnen Geschlechter in ihren eigenen Kohorten ergab, dass auch hier Mann und Frau viele Ähnlichkeiten aufweisen (Kontrolliertheit in den Langzeit-verliebten Kohorten, Bedeutung einer sicheren Bindung für Beziehungszufriedenheit, Nachteil Mania für das Führen einer Beziehung u.v.m.) Unterschiede zeigen sich hingegen vor allem im weiblichen Bindungsverhalten. Die Frau in einer langjährigen Beziehung erweist sich in ihrem Bindungsstil als sicherer als die frisch getrennte Frau, die sich in ihrem Stil als ängstlich-vermeidender präsentiert. Die Ergebnisse der eben genannten Bindungsstile sind Alterseinflüssen unterlegen. Schlussfolgerungen Im direkten Vergleich von Mann und Frau in den einzelnen Beziehungsstadien zeigen sich im Liebesstil und in der Persönlichkeit bedeutsame Differenzen. Dabei fallen erstmals in einem Gendervergleich männliche Probanden durch eine stark signifikante risikobereite Persönlichkeit auf, und hier vor allem unter den frisch getrennten und frisch verliebten Studienteilnehmern, nicht jedoch unter den Lang-zeit-Verliebten. Dies deutet auf einen ambivalenten Nutzen der Risikobereitschaft für das Führen einer Beziehung hin. So vermag es der Initiation einer solchen dienen, auf Dauer jedoch einer stabilen Paarbeziehung schaden. Während ubiquitär dem Mann ein spielerischer und promiskuitiver Umgang mit der Liebe bescheinigt wird, weist der frisch verliebte Mann der Romantic Love Studie dazu einen verminderten Hang auf. Dies ist möglicherweise ein Hinweis darauf, dass die junge Liebe seine spiele-rische Seite mildert oder aber, dass Männer mit niedrigen Ludus-Werten für das andere Geschlecht in Bezug auf Partnersuche einen besonderen Reiz ausstrahlen. Die weiblichen Probanden neigen hingegen in ihrer Persönlichkeit vor allem unter den frisch Verlieb-ten vermehrt zu Extrovertiertheit. Äquivalent zur Risikobereitschaft bei den Männern dieser Kohorte könnte diese Persönlichkeitsausprägung den Beginn einer Beziehung erleichtern oder aber die junge Liebe fördert die Extraversion-Anteile in den verliebten Frauen. Und während die Männer zu Beginn einer Beziehung wenig Ludus besitzen, ist dies bei den Frauen in langjährigen Partnerschaften der Fall. Für die Frau scheint in dieser Beziehungsphase entweder die Partnerschaft einen dämpfenden Effekt auf ihre spielerische Seite zu besitzen, oder aber ein Mangel an Ludus stellt einen Vorteil für das Führen einer langjährigen stabilen Partnerschaft dar. Ganz klar unterscheidet sich allerdings die Frau dieser Kohorte vom Mann dadurch, dass sie in ihrer Liebe romantischer ist. Während zuvor meist dem Mann mehr Eros zugeschrieben wird, ist es hier erstmals die Frau, welche sich als die Romantikerin in einer langjährigen Beziehung erweist. In Bestätigung früherer Studien, welche Neurotizismus mit beziehungsschädigenden Eigenschaften sowie einer Frauenwendigkeit verbinden, weist die frisch getrennte Frau im Vergleich zum Mann ein verstärktes Maß an Neurotizismus auf. Insgesamt zeichnen sich die Frauen in ihrer Gesamtheit als manischer und neurotischer aus als die Männer. Hier zeigt sich allerdings, dass mit dem Alter diese Aus-prägungen sinken, ein Hinweis darauf, dass die Beziehungsfähigkeiten der Frau mit dem Alter steigen könnten. Im Vergleich der einzelnen Geschlechter zwischen den einzelnen Kohorten deutet darauf hin, dass vor allem die kontrollierte Persönlichkeit – unabhängig ob bei Mann oder Frau – einen positiven Einfluss auf die Stabilität, nicht jedoch die Zufriedenheit einer Beziehung besitzt. Unterschiede zwischen den Geschlechtern zeigen sich jedoch im Bindungsverhalten und in der Bedeutung der Leidenschaft in den unterschiedlichen Phasen der Beziehungen. So erweist sich die Frau in einer langjährigen Partner-schaft als zärtlicher als die frisch verliebte Frau und verbindet auch mehr Leidenschaft mit Beziehungs-zufriedenheit als diese. Bei den Männern ist genau das Gegenteil der Fall. Eine mögliche Erklärung hierfür könnte darin liegen, dass sich die Frauen der Romantic Love Studie umso sicherer in ihrer Beziehung fühlen, desto länger diese andauert. Insgesamt zeigte sich jedoch, dass – entgegen der gemeinhin propagierten Unterschiede – zwischen Mann und Frau in Aspekten der Liebe beide Geschlechter in der Romantic Love Studie verhältnismäßig wenig signifikante Differenzen aufweisen.
... The dissolution of a romantic relationships can be an interpersonal problem, boost the feelings of worthlessness and dropout, and undermine the personal competence to establish romantic relationships in the future (Connolly & McIsaac, 2009;Furman & Schaffer, 2003;Moore, Leung, Karnilowicz, & Lung, 2012). For some youths, romantic breakup may be linked to positive outcomes, such as post breakup growth (e.g., Lewandowski & Bozzuto, 2007;Moore et al., 2012;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003) . However, for most people, it may be associated with severe and adverse consequences such as avoidance of communication, aggression, lack of performance, and selfdestructive behaviors (Nikoogoftar, Santana, Ahmadi, Ramak, 2018). ...
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of compassion-focused therapy on Depression and Rumination after a romantic breakup. The present study was carried out using the single-case quasi-experimental method and a simple baseline method. For this purpose, three female participants were selected through targeted sampling and they were treated through an individual Compassion-focused Therapy (CFT) during eight 90-min sessions. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Rumination (RRS) questionnaires in the baseline stage (pre-treatment) during the second, fourth, sixth and eighth sessions, and in the one-month follow-up stage. Moreover, in the pre-treatment stage, the participants completed the Love Trauma Inventory (LTI) and the MMPI-2RF questionnaires to identify the severity of disturbance after breakup and to detect the serious disorder in axis, respectively. Then they were interviewed in order to identify their personality disorder. For data analysis, clinical significance method and the recovery percentage index were used. The results showed that compassion-focused therapy has a significant effect on the reduction of Depression and mental Rumination. The percentage of non-overlap data (PND) on the Depression Scale was 100 for the first and second participants and 75 for the third participant; it was 100 on the rumination scale for all three participants. The rate of recovery of depression in the first, second, third participant was 65%, 72%, 25%, the rumination rate in the first, second, third participant was 47%, 42%, 33%, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that people who experienced a breakup after a compassion-focused therapy look at themselves with a new and compassionate look at their own.
... A pesar de que la presencia de malestar emocional ante una ruptura es frecuente, también existe la posibilidad de que la persona afectada evalúe este quiebre como una oportunidad de cambio y de crecimiento personal (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003), y que, por lo tanto, preserve su sentido de bienestar. Uno de los indicadores de bienestar es la satisfacción vital, que corresponde a la evaluación que la persona hace de su propia vida (Diener, 2000). ...
El presente estudio tiene el propósito de establecer la relación entre las estrategias de afrontamiento, síntomas depresivos y satisfacción con la vida en adultos jóvenes tras una ruptura amorosa. Para esto, se encuestó a 220 personas, 66,8 % mujeres, en edades de entre 18 y 40 años. Se aplicaron las escalas Brief COPE de estrategias de afrontamiento, Escala SWLS de Satisfacción Vital, Escala de Depresión CES-D del Centro de Estudios Epidemiológicos, Cuestionario ERQ de Regulación Emocional, Escala RRS de Respuesta Rumiativa, sumado a un cuestionario sociodemográfico. Se observó que las mujeres poseen más síntomas depresivos que los hombres. Además, el tiempo transcurrido desde la ruptura, la aceptación, la supresión, el brooding y el uso de sustancias predicen una sintomatología depresiva, y, por otro lado, el brooding, la aceptación y la búsqueda de apoyo social predicen satisfacción con la vida. De este modo, es posible enfocarse en las líneas de acción para promover respuestas más adaptativas y modificar las respuestas menos adaptativas en personas afectadas por una ruptura. Palabras claves: Bienestar subjetivo; depresión; regulación emocional; rumiación; ruptura.
... The implications from breaking up may create long-lasting personal and relationship effects. Although typically perceived as a traumatic event, dissolution also offers positive changes that can lead to resilience and increased satisfaction and well-being (Sbarra, Smith, & Mehl, 2012;Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). ...
Ghosting is the unilateral dissolution process of ceasing communication through media. When ghosted, non‐initiators are often left without the ability to navigate the resulting uncertainty or impending dissolution processes. Utilizing uncertainty reduction theory and ambiguous loss, this investigation explores effective and ineffective strategies used to find answers, reduce uncertainty, and navigate post‐dissolution consequences. Employing two studies from Amazon's Mechanical Turk, a thematic analysis to delineate and affirm categories—7 effective and ineffective strategies and 11 categories of personal and relational implications after being ghosted—was used. These studies provide insight about non‐initiators process to resolve their uncertainty and highlight ramifications from ambiguity that non‐initiators experience after being ghosted. These findings discuss connections to knowledge acquisition, closure processing, and consequences of ghosting.
... Yet, the outcomes of breakups are not strictly negative. Many young people eventually achieve psychological growth after breakups, including recognizing positive aspects of themselves and clarifying their future relationship goals (Tashiro & Frazier, 2003). As with other distressing events, disclosure can aid in recovery. ...
As individuals increasingly write about their distressing experiences online, it is important to understand how perceived online audiences influence the effects of self-disclosure. In an experiment, participants wrote about recent breakups for online audiences purportedly varying in 1) whether they shared recent breakup experiences and 2) their ability to leave comments. Participants perceiving audiences with shared experience showed more cognitive processing in their writing and reported increased post-traumatic growth at follow-up than participants perceiving general audiences. Those anticipating comments wrote less about emotions than those who did not. Mechanisms accounting for the benefits of shared experience warrant further investigation.
After a romantic relationship ends, individuals are left to deal with the digital remnants of the relationship. These possessions and connections pose difficulties for users -- they are identity markers of an identity that one may no longer want legible to their online audiences. Further, they can cause upsetting moments that might impede moving on from the break-up.
Through interviews with 11 women who had had a recent break-up, this empirical study examined how people managed their online identity after their break-up. We found that people took different actions towards their possessions and connections in service of creating a post-break-up identity. Using Brubaker & Hayes's (2011) representational framework, we find users attempting to deal with connections as if they were possessions, creating tensions that our current systems are ill-suited to address. Turning to Hogan's (2010) framework of the online identity 'exhibition', we see users creating exhibitions for an audience of one -- themselves -- while also making decisions about who is allowed to see their public-facing exhibitions. We conclude by arguing that existing tools are ill-designed to support competing desires to present authentic past and future online identities and offer design suggestions for consideration.
Although gains and losses are an integral part of human development, the experience of change and readjustment that often comes with major life events may be particularly influential for an individual's subjective aging experience and awareness of age-related change (AARC). Thus, this study focused on the role of life events in the domains of family and health for an individual's awareness of age-related gains and losses. Specifically, we differentiated between the experience of specific life events (e.g., entering a new romantic relationship; hospital stay) and the cumulative experience of multiple life events. Furthermore, we differentiated between life events experienced at an expected time in life and life events experienced relatively early or relatively late compared to established social norms. Data came from the Innovation Sample of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP-IS) and consisted of 1,612 participants aged 16 to 93 years (M = 54.1; SD = 18.2). Life events were assessed annually and retrospectively for the last 2 years. Propensity score matching provided evidence for an association of specific family life events and a higher awareness of age-related gains, as well as specific health life events and a higher awareness of age-related losses. Results furthermore indicated that the cumulative experience of family life events was associated with a higher awareness of age-related gains. Conversely, the cumulative experience of health events was associated with higher awareness of both age-related losses and age-related gains. Moreover, it was not only life events happening at an expected age, but also those happening relatively early and particularly those happening late in life, which were associated with AARC. In summary, life events and the change they may bring seem to be reflected in individuals' awareness of age-related losses and awareness of age-related gains.
Romantic relationships are the main source of happiness for many people and the normal part of life during adolescence and youth; As a result, the dissolution of this relationship may be a disturbing event. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on post-traumatic growth after the termination of a romantic relationship in a single-experimental semi-experimental method. For this purpose, three female participants with the experience of breaking off the romantic relationship were selected by the available sampling method and underwent individual compassion-focused treatment during eight 90-minute sessions. Participants in the treatment phase answered the Post-Traumatic Development Inventory (PTGI), and in the pre-treatment phase, the Love Impact Questionnaire (LTI) and the MMPI-2RF questionnaire were interviewed clinically. Data were analyzed by visual mapping, baseline change index, and recovery percentage formula; As a result, the improvement rate in the post-intervention growth variable in the post-intervention and follow-up stages was 52% and 38% in the first participant, 40% and 40% in the second participant, and 18% and 41% in the third participant, respectively. Thus, the overall recovery rate for all three participants was 39%, which indicates moderate success in treatment; therefore, it can be concluded that a broken heart can heal and move towards a positive transformation, and compassion-focused therapy helps people to reach a stronger and more developed version of themselves after breaking off a romantic relationship. The results of this study have the potential to be used by psychologists and counselors
Self-expansion is a process through which people increase the size of their self-concept by incorporating novel content into their sense of identity. Greater self-expansion predicts positive outcomes for individuals and romantic relationships. However, there are individual differences in the motivation to self-expand. In the present research, we predicted that the experience of relational self-expansion would be associated with relationship commitment most strongly for people who were more motivated to self-expand. We found support for this hypothesis across three studies (total N = 686), with an online sample of individuals in relationships and two dyadic samples, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. This research suggests that those who are motivated by personal self-expansion and experience self-expansion in their relationships are especially romantically committed.
Background: For many women, divorce means coping with extreme stress and emotional instability. To meet the challenges after divorce, divorced women need to be more resilient using different strategies. Almost all studies conducted in Iran with the subject of life after divorce have dealt with the process of adaptation and adaptation has been less considered as the gateway to adaptation.
Aims: The aim of this study was to discover effective strategies in the process of adaptation during post-divorce adjustment in divorced women.
Methods: This research was conducted with a qualitative approach and contextual theory method in 2020 and 2021 in Tehran. The population or field studied in this study included all divorced women in Tehran in 2020 who have passed at least 3 years of legal divorce (who have the opportunity and experience to face the challenges of life after divorce and the possibility of entering the process of adaptation after divorce. The study sample was saturated by selecting 12 divorced women using snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The interviews were analyzed using the systematic method of Corbin and Strauss.
Results: Analysis of participants' experiences leads to the identification of 7 main categories of building a new identity, interacting with divorce, managing post-divorce challenges, engaging in social activities (environmental influences), buffer (protective factors), spiritual-religious confrontations and Coping with factors out of control.
Conclusion: The results showed that divorced women 's use of internal and external factors can help to adapt to life after divorce and put them on the path of adjustment. Understanding knowledge based on divorced women's experience of post-divorce consequences and how to adapt to it, as presented in the present study, can help divorced women, counselors and therapists involved in this area to make gender-based decisions and interventions
Emerging adults are attempting to navigate a rapidly shifting and immensely complicated landscape of modern love, often without meaningful sex and relationship education. Although individually oriented relationship education programs for emerging adults make a difference in the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of the recipients (Simpson et al., Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2018, 47, 477) and most emerging adults report they yearn for relationship education (Weissbourd et al., The talk: How adults can promote young people's healthy relationships and prevent misogyny and sexual harassment, 2017), these programs are not widely available. Educators who are working with emerging adults in a classroom or psychoeducational setting are well-positioned to help emerging adults identify and enact healthy and purposeful relational and sexual choices. The first part of the paper orients readers to the "topography" of the modern love landscape by describing four macro cultural themes that impact the intimate lives of emerging adults. The second part of the paper introduces relationship educators to Relational Self-Awareness (Solomon, Loving Bravely: 20 lessons of self-discovery to help you get the love you want, New Harbinger, 2017), an integrative approach to helping emerging adults understand the self-in-relationship. Each of the five pillars of Relational Self-Awareness is defined and operationalized, and specific recommendations are provided for how educators can integrate these pillars into their existing curricula. Clinical implications and future directions are offered.
Se examinó la relación existente entre duelo amoroso, dependencia emocional y salud mental en mujeres que han terminado su relación de pareja en los últimos seis meses, mediante un diseño descriptivo-comparativo de corte transversal, en el que participaron 236 mujeres heterosexuales con edades entre los 18 y 28 años. Se utilizó el Cuestionario de Dependencia Emocional, la Escala Tridimensional de Duelo Romántico y la Lista De Verificación de Síntomas – 90-Revisado. Los resultados señalan que las emociones, tanto positivas como negativas, que experimentan las mujeres al momento de tener una ruptura amorosa, dependen de variables como la dependencia emocional y la duración de la relación; además, la ruptura y las emociones negativas podrían hacer que aparezcan síntomas de: depresión, ansiedad, hostilidad y problemas somáticos. Por lo tanto, es importante intervenir oportunamente durante el duelo romántico, para evitar que se evolucione hacia cuadros clínicos que puedan llevar a la depresión, ansiedad, pensamientos o intentos de suicidio ocasionados por el dolor de una ruptura amorosa.
El bienestar subjetivo comprende experiencias emocionales positivas/negativas, prosperidad y satisfacción con la vida. Además, depende de múltiples factores psicosociales como: la rumia, el optimismo, la resiliencia y la capacidad para recibir apoyo, mismos que han sido estudiados en particular y necesitan ser examinados en conjunto. Por ello, este estudio se propuso: 1) identificar el efecto de las variables mencionadas en el bienestar subjetivo en adultos, y 2) explorar sus diferencias a partir del sexo, edad y escolaridad. Se contó con la participación voluntaria de 404 adultos mexicanos de entre 18 y 64 años (M=37.56), con escolaridad mínima de secundaria. Los resultados muestran el papel significativo de algunos factores del optimismo, resiliencia y rumia en la predicción del bienestar subjetivo, así como diferencias en auto-confianza (optimismo), experiencia emocional negativa (bienestar subjetivo) y capacidad de recibir apoyo entre sexos, y la tendencia a experimentar más optimismo, resiliencia y bienestar conforme se tiene más edad y escolaridad. Estos resultados muestran como los atributos positivos y la experiencia de vida se asociacian con otras experiencias positivas en pro del bienestar del individuo.
The current study sought to expand our understanding of how early relationships characterized by intimate partner violence (IPV) influence college women’s transition into emerging adulthood. We used a longitudinal qualitative design in which women ( n = 13) with histories of IPV victimization participated in interviews twice a year beginning their first semester in college and ending in their final semester of college. Four primary themes were uncovered: making sense of the relationship, recognizing needs in the relationship, posttraumatic growth, and social cognitive maturity. The constitutive pattern across all four themes was resilience (i.e., positive adaptation during and after experiencing adversity).
Across the life span, friendship is an important component of people’s support networks. This article explores the developmental roots of adult friendship intimacy and satisfaction, taking into consideration the early interplay between sociomoral sensitivity in friendship, insecurity in peer contexts, and peer rejection. Data (N = 176) came from the longitudinal study “Individual Development and Social Structure.” Respondents were surveyed repeatedly from age 7 to 37 years. Autoregressive cross‐lagged panel models show that sociomoral sensitivity in friendship protects adolescents from peer rejection and is reciprocally associated with insecurity. Childhood and adolescent sociomoral sensitivity antecede early adult friendship intimacy, which, in turn, antecedes friendship satisfaction in mid‐adulthood. The findings indicate a sequence of pathways from sociomoral sensitivity developed early in life to friendship quality in adulthood.
The formation and functioning of close relationships can alter individuals’ self-concepts in such a manner that the self-concepts are cognitively linked with the partner; however, relationship dissolution directly threatens the loss of this intertwined self-concept. In this chapter, we first discuss the degree to which prior relationship-induced self-concept change predicts, and in some cases inoculates against, dissolution. Second, we discuss the extent to which relationship dissolution leads to subsequent self-concept changes within individuals (e.g., loss of self-concept content, increased self-concept confusion), as well as the mechanisms underlying whether these post-dissolution self-concept changes are deemed harmful versus beneficial. Third, we explain how individuals may recover from post-dissolution self-concept changes by seeking to repair or restore the damaged self-concept. Finally, we briefly identify avenues for future research that scholars may consider pursuing.
We examined narratives of romantic breakups (i.e., breakup accounts) in relation to romantic attachment tendencies. In Study 1, participants provided accounts of difficult breakups and indicated who in the relationship initiated its dissolution. In Study 2, participants provided breakup accounts from the perspective of the initiator and the non-initiator. Breakup accounts were coded for levels of exploration (active reflection of the narrated experience) and resolution (emotional closure and a sense of resiliency). Across studies, levels of resolution were highest in self-initiated, when compared to other-initiated, breakup accounts. In Study 2, avoidant attachment correlated negatively with levels of resolution in self-initiated, but not other-initiated, breakup accounts. These results suggest that avoidantly attached individuals narrate self-initiated breakups in a less thoroughly processed manner than their secure peers, and that these differences in transformational processing may carry implications for romantic domain functioning.
The purpose of this investigation was to identify the factors associated with the distress experienced after the breakup of a romantic relationship, both at the time of the breakup (assessed retrospectively) and at the time the questionnaire was completed. Four categories of variables were examined as possible correlates of post-breakup distress: variables associated with the initiation of the relationship, characteristics of the relationship while it was intact, conditions at the time of the breakup and individual difference variables. The sample consisted of 257 young adults (primarily college students; 83 male and 174 female) who had experienced a recent breakup (M = 21 weeks since breakup). The variables most highly associated with distress at the time of the breakup were non-mutuality in alternatives (i.e. partner having more inter-est in alternatives), commitment, satisfaction, greater effort in relationship initiation, being `left' by the other and fearful attachment style. The variables most highly associated with current distress were commitment, duration of the relationship, fearful attachment style, dismissing attachment style and time since breakup.
People whose homes were damaged or destroyed by a fire were surveyed immediately after the fire and 1 year later. It was predicted that finding positive meaning in that traumatic event would be associated with better coping and with less blame to others for the event. Five ways of focusing on the positive were measured in this study: finding side benefits, making social comparisons, imagining worse situations, forgetting the negative, and redefining. As expected, positive revaluators coped better and were somewhat less likely to blame others. Two alternative explanations for these relationships—amount of loss incurred and social desirability—were considered, but analyses did not lend support to these interpretations. The longitudinal analysis indicated that one's initial cognitive orientation toward an event such as a fire appears to be fairly stable: There were few changes in positive meaning or blame during the year following the fire.
The purpose of this study was to examine correlates of initial distress and current recovery among individuals who have experienced the breakup of a dating relationship, including factors associated with commitment to the relationship (i.e. satisfaction, duration, closeness, perceived alternatives) and factors associated with coping with life stressors (i.e. perceptions of the controllability of the breakup, social support and self-esteem). Participants were 34 males and 51 females who had experienced the breakup of a dating relationship within the past 6 months. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that these variables accounted for between 21 and 47 percent of the variance in the measures of initial distress and current recovery. The coping-related variables added significantly to the prediction of initial distress and current recovery once the commitment-related variables were taken into account, but were more strongly related to recovery than to initial distress. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
ABSTRACT This article reports the development of the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS) and its use in a study examining determinants of stress-related positive outcomes for college students. Study 1 analyses showed that the SRGS has acceptable internal and test-retest reliability and that scores are not influenced by social desirability. Study 2 analyses showed that college students' SRGS responses were significantly related to those provided by friends and relatives on their behalf. Study 3 analyses tested the determinants of stress-related growth longitudinally. Significant predictors of the SRGS were (a) intrinsic religiousness; (b) social support satisfaction; (c) stressfulness of the negative event; (d) positive reinterpretation and acceptance coping; and (e) number of recent positive life events. The SRGS was also positively related to residual change in optimism, positive affectivity, number of socially supportive others, and social support satisfaction, lending further support to the validity of this new scale. Results have implications for current theory on stress-related positive outcomes.
Although stressful life events have consistently been linked to the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD), most research has not distinguished 1st episodes from recurrences. In a large epidemiologic sample of older adolescents (N = 1,470) assessed at 2 time points, the risk conferred by a recent romantic break-up was examined as a predictor of 1st onset versus recurrence of MDD. Results indicated a heightened likelihood of 1st onset of MDD during adolescence if a recent break-up had been reported; in contrast, a recent break-up did not predict recurrence of depression. These results held for both genders and remained significant after controlling for gender. Additional analyses to determine the discriminant validity and specificity of these findings strongly supported the recent break-up as a significant risk factor for a 1st episode of MDD during adolescence. Implications of these findings and subsequent research directions are discussed.
The authors first describe individual differences in the structure of the self. In the independent self-construal, representations of others are separate from the self. In the interdependent self-construal, others are considered part of the self (H. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991). In general, men in the United States are thought to construct and maintain an independent self-construal, whereas women are thought to construct and maintain an interdependent self-construal. The authors review the psychological literature to demonstrate that many gender differences in cognition, motivation, emotion, and social behavior may be explained in terms of men's and women's different self-construals. Recognition of the interdependent self-construal as a possible alternative conception of the self may stimulate new investigations into the ways the self influences a person's thinking, feeling, and behaving.
How do marriages become unhappy? How do marriages change? What are the theories and methods that can best illuminate our understanding of marital development? This 1998 volume comprehensively explores how marriages develop and deteriorate, and in doing so, brings together leading scholars to present research on the longitudinal course of marriage. The chapters share a common focus on the early phases of marriage but address a diverse array of topics, including marital conflict, personality, social support, the transition to parenthood, violence, ethnicity, stress, alcohol use, commitment and sexuality. Implications of this research for alleviating marital distress are also noted. The book concludes with six provocative analyses by prominent scholars in the areas of sociology, clinical psychology, social psychology and developmental psychology.
Trait concepts are used extensively in psychopathology research, but much of this research has failed to consider recent advances in the dimensional structure of personality. Many investigators have discounted the importance of this structural research, arguing that (a) little progress has been made in this area, (b) structural models have little direct relevance for psychopathology research, and (c) the principal methodological tool of structural research--factor analysis--is too subjective to yield psychologically meaningful results. We dispute each of these objections. Specifically, we offer an integrative hierarchical model--composed of four higher order traits--that is congruent with each of the major structural subtraditions within personality. We also discuss the implications of this integrative scheme for basic trait research, for the conceptualization and assessment of psychopathology, and for the etiology of disorder.
A survey was conducted to determine whether men and women and those who possessed different love schemas, differed in their emotional reactions to romantic break-ups or in the strategies they employed to cope with them. Seventy-seven men and 173 women from the University of Hawaii who had been passionately in love, dated, and then broken up were interviewed. Men were less likely to report experiencing joy or relief immediately after a break-up than were women. Men and women also relied on somewhat different coping strategies for dealing with a break-up. Although men and women were equally critical of their own roles in break-ups, women were more likely to blame their partners than were men. Men were more likely to bury themselves in work or sports. Love schemas were also correlated with reactions to break-ups. The more "secure" people were, the easier they found it to cope. The "clingy" suffered the most, while the "skittish," "casual," and "uninterested" suffered the least from relationship dissolution. Love schemas were also found to be correlated with the coping strategies employed in theoretically meaningful ways.
Research on attributions in marriage rests on 2 assumptions. First, the attributions spouses make for their partners' behaviors have been treated as a style or a trait, reflecting enduring aspects of the perceiver. Second, attributions have been described as a causal factor in the development of the marriage over time. To evaluate the evidence for these assumptions, the authors analyzed 8 waves of longitudinal data from a sample of newlywed couples. Results offered no support for the idea of an enduring attributional style; attributions changed linearly, and changes in attributions were strongly associated with changes in marital satisfaction within each spouse. Nevertheless, controlling for these associations, initial levels of attributions predicted changes in marital satisfaction more than initial satisfaction predicted changes in attributions. Effects of neuroticism and effects on marital dissolution were also examined.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of initiator status on emotional well-being, psychological well-being, and divorce-related stress at two points during the divorce transition. A representative sample of 80 divorced parents were surveyed 6 to 12 (T1) and 18 to 24 (T2) months post decree. A major finding was that initiators and noninitiators shared similar emotional responses to the divorce. However, the timing of the responses differed. Initiators experienced more change, stress, and personal growth at T1, whereas noninitiators reported higher levels at T2. The implications of these timing differences for clinical and educational practice were explored.
In this study we examined how support from parents and friends for the romantic relationships of young adults affects the quality of their relationships and the likelihood that their relationships break up over time. Data were gathered over 2 years from a group of romantic couples. Support was found for the positive effect of network support on the quality of the relationship in both cross-sectional and panel analyses. Hazard analyses showed that the female partner's perceived network support increased the stability of the relationships. No evidence was found for the Romeo and Juliet effect.
We examined the subjective processes by which premarital partners (n = 113) become more or less committed to wed over time. Two commitment processes were identified. In relationship-driven commitments, commitment evolved smoothly with few reversals. To explain changes in commitment, partners focused on their interaction and activities with one another and with their joint network and on positive beliefs about the relationship and about network members. Event-driven commitments had more extreme changes in commitment, with sharp downturns alternating with sharp upturns. Partners attributed changes to episodes of self-disclosure and conflict, negative relationship beliefs, separate interaction with network members, and negative network beliefs. On several measures, event-driven partners reported more negative relationship experiences and were less compatible. Yet the two groups did not differ on love or other indicators of involvement. The implications of the two processes for marital decisions are discussed.
Although relationship dissolution is a fruitful context for field studies of attribution processes, only a handful of studies have been conducted and these have often produced contradictory results. This study analysed the written accounts of ex-partners from recently terminated premarital relationships. Type of attribution (self, other, interpersonal, external) was related to items representing the severity of the impact of the dissolution. Among other findings, evidence indicated that females whose relationships had been terminated longer were more likely to use interpersonal attributions and less likely to use other attributions when accounting for the break-up. It is argued that attribution following relationship termination should be viewed as an on-going process rather than as a singular event.
Rules theory is the framework for this study's analysis of ordinary language contained in break-up accounts. It attempts to understand the relationship expectations which parties have for their opposite-sex romantic relationships. Break-up accounts from 157 respondents produced eight primary reasons/rules relevant to this relationship type: the obligation to grant autonomy beyond the relationship; the expectation of similarity; the obligations to be supportive, loyal and open; the expectation of shared time between relationship parties; the expectation of equity; and the expectation that a romantic relationship will be characterized by an inexplicable `magic' quality. Females were significantly more likely to mention autonomy, openness, and equity reasons in their break-up accounts than males were; males, in turn, more frequently mentioned the lack of the magical quality as a reason for break-up. Overall, females mentioned significantly more reasons/rules for break-up than did the male respondents in the sample.
The purpose of this study was to describe attributions about significant changes in involvement level during the course of permarital relationship development and dissolution. The Retrospective Interview Technique (RIT) (Fitzgerald & Surra, 1981) was employed to reconstruct, for 100 individuals, the history of serious, heterosexual, romantic relationships that had dissolved within the last twelve months. The average length of such relationships was 15.70 months. In all, 1,988 attributions were made concerning 797 significant turning points in these relationships. The attributions broke down as follows: 43 percent dyadic, 30 percent individual, 15 percent network, 12 percent circumstantial. Chi-square tests were conducted to test whether the distribution of the four types of attributions varied as a function of (1) stage of the relationship, (2) sign and magnitude of the change in the relationship, (3) gender and (4) initiator of the breakup of the relationship. Results indicate significant differences in the distributions of attributions for all four of these breakdowns. Discussion centres around the role of attributions in relationship development versus dissolution and around gender differences in romantic relationships.
Predictions from cognitive theories of adjustment to victimization were tested in two groups: stroke patients and their caregivers. Consistent with these approaches, a substantial proportion of respondents reported searching for a cause, asking themselves "Why me?" and finding meaning in the event. Multiple regression analysis revealed that, even when the effects of the severity of the stroke were controlled for, finding meaning had the positive effects proposed by a cognitive approach. A concern with the selective incidence of the event was associated with poorer adjustment, but being able to identify a cause was related to more positive outcomes. Those who held themselves responsible for the stroke were more poorly adjusted when the effects of severity of the stroke were controlled for. The results suggest that future researchers make a careful distinction between causal attributions for a negative event, selective incidence attributions ("Why me?"), and responsibility attributions. They appear to have different implications for adjustment following a traumatic event.
Research has shown that marriage is more beneficial for men than women and that men suffer more distress than women on marital dissolution. To explore the extent to which these findings generalize to nonmarital relationships, college students in long-distance dating relationships were followed over one semester to determine sex differences in adjustment to physical separation and breakup. Breakups increased men's distress but decreased women's. Women adjusted better than men to both physical separation and breakup. Frequency of contact prior to separation did not show a consistent pattern of effects on adjustment. Men, but not women, adjusted better to breakup if they had initiated it. The most distressed subjects were men whose partners initiated the breakup, most likely because they were less prepared for it. Many of the sex differences found here for dating relationships parallel those found in marriage.
Reflects the faith that there is such a thing as personality (loosely defined in terms of regularities in feeling, thought, and action that are characteristic of an individual), that there is such a thing as social behavior (referring to those domains of thought, feeling, and action concerned with people and events in their social worlds), and that the two are linked, both in theory and in practice, such that personality can tell us something important about social behavior, and that social behavior can tell us something important about personality. Topics of discussion include: shared motivational concerns of personality and social psychology; the functionalist strategy for personality and social behavior; the functionalist strategy in action: three case examples; features and meta-features of the functionalist strategy; and the functionalist strategy in context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A large sample of individuals involved in ongoing dating relationships completed an extensive questionnaire survey that assessed 10 factors: satisfaction with the current partner, closeness of the relationship, duration of the relationship, sexual nature of the relationship, the quality of the best actual and imagined alternative dating partner(s), the ease with which a suitable alternative partner could be found, exclusivity of the relationship, self-monitoring propensity, and orientation to sexual relations. Approximately 3 months later, all individuals were recontacted to determine whether they were still dating the same partner and if not, how much emotional distress they experienced following relationship dissolution. Analyses revealed that at a univariate level, all 10 factors successfully forecasted relationship stability. Three of the 10 factors—closeness, duration, and ease of finding an alternative partner—reliably and independently predicted the intensity and duration of emotional distress. Specifically, individuals who were close to their former partner, who had dated the former partner for a long time, and who believed they could not easily acquire a desirable alternative tended to experience more pronounced distress following dissolution. These results are discussed in terms of the investment model and recent theorizing on emotion in relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the extent to which people are assisted in their adjustment to divorce by their tendency to appraise the breakup in a biased, ego-enhancing fashion. Comparisons of the perceptions of 90 ex-spouses (45 couples) revealed that (1) ex-spouses did not differ in their positive self-perceptions or in their negative perceptions of each other; (2) Ss rated themselves more positively along dimensions of responsibility for the breakup, villain/victim status, and desire to reconcile than they were rated by their ex-partner; (3) both partners agreed that the women were more likely to have had control over the separation process than the men; and (4) wives' views of their ex-husband tended to correlate with the men's self-perceptions; men's and women's views of the wives were unrelated. The greater the control over the breakup attributed to one's ex-spouse, the lower one's level of psychosocial adjustment and resolution of the breakup. The article discusses how distorting perceptions of ego-threatening situations may facilitate adjustment to and maintenance of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The focus of this chapter is on how posttraumatic growth (PTG) is related to various aspects of adjustment. Conceptual issues are discussed first; these include issues regarding the potential theoretical linkages between PTG and adjustment as well as some definitional issues. The relevant empirical literature addressing the links between PTG and adjustment is then reviewed within the proposed conceptual framework.
Examination of the empirical research regarding the consequences of perceived benefits or PTG in people's lives focuses on the following topics: perceived growth as de facto evidence of adjustment, perceived growth and adjustment as conceptually distinct constructs, emotional adjustment, physical health, healthy lifestyles and health behaviors, changes in personality, changes in life goals and purposes, and adaptation to current and subsequent crises and stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
If social work researchers are to accurately describe the psychosocial functioning of clients who experience negative events, they need to consider positive as well as negative outcomes. Here, new measures of self-reported positive life changes after traumatic stressors are introduced. 416 adults (mean age 40.79 yrs) served as subjects. Factor analyses suggest that the Perceived Benefit Scales consist of eight subscales: lifestyle changes; material gain; and increases in self efficacy, family closeness, community closeness, faith in people, compassion, and spirituality. Internal consistency and test–retest coefficients range from adequate to excellent. The scales correlate with indicators of severity and differ by type of negative event experienced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The main purpose of this study was to analyze the structure and content of real-life attributions, using these data to examine some important theoretical and empirical issues in attribution theory. The causal attributions examined came from free-response verbal protocols of explanations for marital separation of 29 males and 33 females living in New Zealand. Respondents gave causal importance weghts to the attributions from their verbal protocols, utilizing the technique of subjective magnitude estimation. Ipsative data, representing perceived causal responsibility for different attribution targets (self, ex-spouse, external factors, etc.), were derived from these weights, and the impact a range of independent variables exerted on these derived free-response attribution percentages was examined. Evidence is presented which supports the validity and reliability of this technique. The normative data gathered was found to be both consistent and inconsistent with different aspects of attribution theory. The implications for attribution theory are discussed.
Twenty-six gay, 24 lesbian, and 49 heterosexual (19 male and 30 female) individuals who were separated from their relationship partner for about 6 months provided reasons why their relationship ended and rated their current separation distress. Relative to partners in heterosexual couples, those in gay or lesbian couples did not differ in reasons for the separation or in level of separation distress. Aspects of relationship quality assessed shortly before the separation occurred did not predict later separation distress. However, individuals who indicated that problems with intimacy were the cause of the separation were unlikely to be distressed by the separation, whereas individuals who indicated that problems with communication were the cause of the separation were likely to be distressed by the separation. Separation distress was positively related to the severity of neurotic symptoms reported when the relationship was intact and was negatively related to the extent to which the separation was expected. It is concluded that separation distress is more strongly related to personal strategies for coping with stress than to relationship-related events leading to separation.
ABSTRACT We review prior evidence—and present data of our own—linking measures of adaptational style to the traits comprising the five-factor model of personality. Neuroticism has been studied most extensively and is consistently associated with passive and ineffective coping mechanisms. Conscientiousness has emerged as an equally powerful predictor of coping; however, it is related to active, problem-focused response strategies. Extraversion is less broadly related to coping but tends to be correlated with social support seeking, positive reappraisal, and problem-focused coping. Openness is largely unrelated to many traditional coping inventories, but appears to reflect a more flexible, imaginative, and intellectually curious approach to problem solving. Finally, Agreeableness is only modestly related to coping. These results demonstrate the value of using well-articulated taxonomic schemes as a framework for trait-based research.
The development of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, an instrument for assessing positive outcomes reported by persons who have experienced traumatic events, is described. This 21-item scale includes factors of New Possibilities, Relating to Others, Personal Strength, Spiritual Change, and Appreciation of Life. Women tend to report more benefits than do men, and persons who have experienced traumatic events report more positive change than do persons who have not experienced extraordinary events. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory is modestly related to optimism and extraversion. The scale appears to have utility in determining how successful individuals, coping with the aftermath of trauma, are in reconstructing or strengthening their perceptions of self, others, and the meaning of events.
A study was conducted to explore the possible relationship between post-divorce adjustment and the attributions divorced women give for the failure of their marriages. The study revealed that significantly more subjects who attributed their divorces to interactive rather than personal factors were more active, more socially skilled, happier, more optimistic, and less likely to blame themselves rather than outside forces for failures. The findings were also analyzed in light of whether or not subjects had initiated their divorce proceedings. The importance of making interactive attributions was discussed.
In this article we present a temporal model for understanding the relations between perceived control and posttraumatic distress. Although perceived control generally is seen as adaptive, a review of the research using a temporal framework reveals that the relations between different types of control and distress vary greatly. Specifically, present and future control tend to be associated with better adjustment and fewer posttraumatic stress disoorder (PTSD) symptoms, whereas past control tends to be unrelated to distress or associated with more distress. Following this review, we outline an agenda for future research on past, future, and present control and posttraumatic distress using our temporal framework and discuss general methodological issues that need to be addressed in future research.
The Brief Symptom Inventory was administered to 204 female and 143 male students at a 4-year college. Their mean scores on the nine primary symptom dimensions were compared with means of a normative sample of older adults and younger adolescents. The results indicated that college students reported significantly higher levels of distress than did the adult sample and that they showed a different pattern of distress than the younger adolescents. It was suggested that counselors and clinicians may wish to use college level norms when they are using the Brief Symptom Inventory with college students.
Goldberg (1992) developed a robust set of 100 adjective markers for the Big-Five factor structure found in phenotypic personality description. Because and even briefer marker set might be advantageous under certain assessment conditions, the performance of these 100 markers in 12 data sets was scrutinized, leading to the selection of an optimally robust subset of only 40 adjectives. This "Mini-Marker" subset demonstrated unusually impressive features for an abbreviated inventory, consisting of five scales that show, in comparison to the original scales, less use of difficult items, lower interscale correlations, and somewhat higher mean inter-item correlations; alpha reliabilities are somewhat lower. A format for administering this briefer inventory is appended.
A substantial body of empirical research has documented both the promise and the shortcomings of psychological interventions for preventing or ameliorating marital distress. Couple therapy reduces relationship distress and may affect individual psychopathology, such as depression. However, some couples are unresponsive and others improve but relapse later. Interventions to prevent marital distress usually produce short-term changes in behavior and relationship satisfaction, but little evidence exists demonstrating a longer-term prevention effect. Furthermore, these interventions have yet to be examined on a diverse population of couples or with a diverse set of outcome criteria (e.g. effects on children). Concern about the negative impact of marital discord and divorce will continue to provide the impetus for research on more effective means of intervening with couples. Future research could benefit from a focus on a more diverse population of couples, treatment in natural settings, the development of more powerful interventions, and the examination of those interventions over longer periods of time and with more comprehensive outcome measures.
This article briefly outlines the salutary implications for psychology of the development of a science of interpersonal relationships, which has emerged as multidisciplinary in nature and international in scope. Discussed are the potentials of relationship science: to unite psychological scholars with other social, behavioral, and biological scientists; to help integrate many subdisciplines within psychology; to bridge the chasm between researcher and practitioner; to extend knowledge of human behavior to people's daily lives and natural surroundings; and to inform issues of national concern. The realization of these potentials, however, requires transcendence of psychologists' traditional individualistic orientation, as well as more research on the impact of affect on cognition and research on the impact of relationships' exterior environments on their interior dynamics.
Research on attributions in marriage rests on 2 assumptions. First, the attributions spouses make for their partners' behaviors have been treated as a style or a trait, reflecting enduring aspects of the perceiver. Second, attributions have been described as a causal factor in the development of the marriage over time. To evaluate the evidence for these assumptions, the authors analyzed 8 waves of longitudinal data from a sample of newlywed couples. Results offered no support for the idea of an enduring attributional style; attributions changed linearly, and changes in attributions were strongly associated with changes in marital satisfaction within each spouse. Nevertheless, controlling for these associations, initial levels of attributions predicted changes in marital satisfaction more than initial satisfaction predicted changes in attributions. Effects of neuroticism and effects on marital dissolution were also examined.
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