Dataset - Staying friends with an ex
Abstract
Compared to motivations for cross-sex friendship, little research has examined motivations for friendship between ex-partners after romantic relationship dissolution (i.e., post-relationship friendship; PRF). In Study 1, participants (N = 348) act nominated reasons for why someone might remain friends with an ex-partner. In Study 2, participants (N = 513) rated the importance of staying friends with an ex-partner for each reason given in Study 1 and completed the PID-5-BF and HEXACO to measure domains of clinically relevant and non-pathological personality. Principle component analysis identified seven categories of reasons for staying friends. Reasons that indicated that an ex-partner is reliable, trustworthy, and of sentimental value (i.e., reliability/sentimentality) were given the highest importance ratings whereas reasons that indicated that continued friendship was practical (i.e., pragmatism) were given the lowest ratings. Men rated pragmatism and sexual access reasons as more important than women did. Furthermore, antagonism scores on the PID-5-BF, and the Honesty–Humility and extraversion scores on the HEXACO predicted importance ratings for pragmatism and sexual access. Our findings are consistent with previous research and suggest that PRF may provide opportunity for ex-partners to exchange desirable resources (e.g., love, status, information, money, sex) after romantic relationship dissolution.
File (1)
Content uploaded by Justin K Mogilski
Author content
Supplementary resource (1)
Why do people fall in love? Does passion fade with time? What makes for a happy, healthy relationship? This introduction to relationship science follows the lifecycle of a relationship – from attraction and initiation, to the hard work of relationship maintenance, to dissolution and ways to strengthen a relationship. Designed for advanced undergraduates studying psychology, communication or family studies, this textbook presents a fresh, diversity-infused approach to relationship science. It includes real-world examples and critical-thinking questions, callout boxes that challenge students to make connections, and researcher interviews that showcase the many career paths of relationship scientists. Article Spotlights reveal cutting-edge methods, while Diversity and Inclusion boxes celebrate the variety found in human love and connection. Throughout the book, students see the application of theory and come to recognize universal themes in relationships as well as the nuances of many findings. Instructors can access lecture slides, an instructor manual, and test banks.
The study queried whether the relational characteristics that influence individuals to remain face-to-face friends with former romantic partners following a break up also impact the decisions to remain Facebook “friends” with former romantic partners. The sample included over 300 young adults who met two criteria: They maintained an active Facebook account and reported a pre-marital, romantic break-up. The results revealed that the variables that impact post-dissolution friendship decisions of former romantic partners in the face-to-face context (quantity of relational investments, relational satisfaction, and relational disengagement strategies) do not impact former romantic partners' decisions to maintain or dissolve Facebook friendships. These results provide evidence that romantic partners may experience different relational motivations and dynamics in online versus off-line venues.
Popular culture has recently publicized a seemingly new postbreakup behavior called breakup sex. While the media expresses the benefits of participating in breakup sex, there is no research to support these claimed benefits. The current research was designed to begin to better understand this postbreakup behavior. In the first study, we examined how past breakup sex experiences made the individuals feel and how people predict they would feel in the future ( n = 212). Results suggested that men are more likely than women to have felt better about themselves, while women tend to state they felt better about the relationship after breakup sex. The second study ( n = 585) investigated why men and women engage in breakup sex. Results revealed that most breakup sex appears to be motivated by three factors: relationship maintenance, hedonism, and ambivalence. Men tended to support hedonistic and ambivalent reasons for having breakup sex more often than women. The two studies revealed that breakup sex may be differentially motivated (and may have different psychological consequences) for men and women and may not be as beneficial as the media suggests.
As an important dimension of romantic relationships, sexual activity has received little attention in research on on‐again/off‐again (on–off) relationships. Study 1 assessed the prevalence and perceptions of sexual experiences in on–off relationships as compared to non‐cyclical relationships (those without a history of breakups and renewals); furthermore, current and post‐dissolution (PD) relationships were assessed. Findings showed that on–off partners were four times more likely to engage in sex after breakups than non‐cyclical partners (55 vs. 13%). Results also suggested that on–off partners' perceptions of PD sexual experiences were more satisfying, more compatible, and less stressful than were non‐cyclical partners'. Using longitudinal data, Study 2 showed that PD sex was linked with reconciling the relationship. Conclusions from these findings and future directions are discussed.
Cambridge Core - Social Psychology - On-Again, Off-Again Relationships - by René M. Dailey
Our research deals with the question how people look back at their ex-partners—those with whom they were once romantically involved? Such views are important because they may shape our views of current relationships or new (potential) partners. Across three studies (total N = 876), we find that men hold more positive attitudes towards their female ex-partners than women do towards their male ex-partners. Gender-related variables provide further insight into this phenomenon. Ex-partner attitudes correlated positively with more permissive sexual attitudes and the amount of social support that individuals perceived from their ex-partners (both higher in men), whereas the ex-partner attitudes correlated negatively with attributions of greater responsibility for the breakup to ex-partner or relationship itself (both higher in women). Both men and women reported more positive ex-partner attitudes if they were single or had lower breakup acceptance.
The study queried whether the relational characteristics that influence individuals to remain face-to-face friends with former romantic partners following a break up also impact the decisions to remain Facebook “friends” with former romantic partners. The sample included over 300 young adults who met two criteria: They maintained an active Facebook account and reported a pre-marital, romantic break-up. The results revealed that the variables that impact post-dissolution friendship decisions of former romantic partners in the face-to-face context (quantity of relational investments, relational satisfaction, and relational disengagement strategies) do not impact former romantic partners' decisions to maintain or dissolve Facebook friendships. These results provide evidence that romantic partners may experience different relational motivations and dynamics in online versus off-line venues.
Recent research has highlighted important individual differences in moral judgment. The present study extends these findings by examining the associations between pathological personality traits and utilitarian moral judgments. This was accomplished by asking 2, 121 Israeli community members to complete self-report measures concerning their pathological personality traits and evaluate the acceptability of utilitarian moral judgments in various sacrificial dilemmas (is it acceptable to intentionally kill one person in order to save several other people?). The results showed that the pathological personality traits of antagonism and disinhibition were positively associated with the endorsement of personal utilitarian moral judgments (i.e., those decisions requiring the individual to directly inflict harm on the would-be sacrificed individual), whereas negative affectivity was negatively associated with personal utilitarian moral judgments. Antagonism was the only pathological personality trait associated with impersonal utilitarian moral judgments (i.e., those decisions that did not require the individual to directly inflict harm on the would-be sacrificed individual). Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for understanding the associations between pathological personality traits and moral judgments.
In two studies, we identified predictors of staying friends with an ex-partner, developed and validated a measure for reasons to stay friends with exes, and examined the outcomes of staying friends. We identified four reasons to stay friends with exes: Security, Practical, Civility, and Unresolved Romantic Desires. Sex, sexual orientation, attachment styles, personality traits, time since breakup, and reasons for breakup all predicted staying friends. Staying friends due to Unresolved Romantic Desires resulted in negative outcomes, whereas staying friends due to Security and Practical reasons resulted in more positive outcomes. Staying friends due to Practical or Civility reasons resulted in the friendship being less likely to last in the long term. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed.
In a replication and extension of previous research demonstrating a connection between the dark triad (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) and relationship preferences, this study investigated the relationship using normative scales in an attempt to yield more accurate results. Two hundred and eighty nine undergraduate students completed a number of online questionnaires measuring the dark triad and relationship preferences. The dark triad was positively correlated with a preference for short-term relationships and negatively correlated with a preference for serious romantic relationships. Narcissism was positively correlated with a preference for “one-night-stands”, “booty-calls”, and “friends-with-benefits”, and not significantly correlated with a preference for serious romantic relationships. Psychopathy and Machiavellianism were both positively correlated with a preference for “one-night-stands”, “booty-calls”, and “friends-with-benefits”, and negatively correlated with a preference for serious romantic relationships. The results of this study suggest that the normative scales were useful in supporting the conclusion that the dark triad is related to a preference for short-term relationships, and that the traits can be used to predict people's relationship choices.
Previous research has extensively studied sex differences in mating strategies such as mate preferences and degree of choosiness and how these affect relationship initiation. Very little research, however, has examined these sex differences and how they may play a role in nonmarital relationship dissolution. The existing literature that does examine nonmarital breakups tends to do so from a clinical perspective and neglects the evolutionary approach. The current study uses self-report data gathered from 392 participants through Mechanical Turk to expand upon the sparse existing literature on nonmarital relationship dissolution from an evolutionary perspective to investigate how sex differences in mating strategies affect breakup processes such as the coping period, emotions experienced, and post-breakup behaviors. Results revealed that women require a longer time period to get over an ex-partner with a good sense of humor and are more likely to make in-person contact with such an ex-partner. For post-breakup emotions, women were significantly more likely to report feeling happy which likely is a reflection of the finding that they were more likely to initiate breakups. Men, on the other hand, were more likely to report feeling sexually frustrated following relationship dissolution. Post-breakup behaviors were predicted by breakup initiator rather than participant gender. Overall, these findings support sexual dimorphism in the value of humor and greater female choosiness even after initial mate selection.
The present study investigated whether a range of dark personality features including the Dark Tetrad, right-wing authoritarianism, spitefulness, and the pathological personality features captured by the PID-5 possessed similar interpersonal content. Participants were 586 undergraduates (456 women) who completed measures of dark personality and interpersonal style. Dark personality features were projected onto a trait measure of the interpersonal circumplex and results revealed that dark personality features had similar interpersonal content and occupied interpersonal space representing arrogant, manipulative, cold, and hostile interpersonal styles. Two exceptions to this pattern were NPI leadership/authority (located in the Assured-Dominant [PA] octant) and PID-5 negative affect (located in the Unassured-Submissive [HI] octant). Findings are discussed in the context of interpersonal similarities and differences of a variety of dark personality features.
In this research the effects of personality and organizational characteristics on workplace delinquency were investigated. In a sample of 455 respondents from a wide variety of organizations, two personality traits, HEXACO Honesty–Humility and Conscientiousness, and two organizational characteristics, ethical culture and employee surveillance, explained a significant amount of variance in workplace delinquency. No interaction effects between personality and organizational practices in the explanation of workplace delinquency were found. Results are discussed in light of the role of personality and Routine Activity Theory in predicting unethical behaviors, delinquency, and/or occupational crime in organizations.
A considerable body of research has rapidly accumulated with respect to the validity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) dimensional trait model as it is assessed by the Personality Inventory for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (PID-5; Krueger et al., 2012). This research though has not focused specifically on discriminant validity, although allusions to potentially problematic discriminant validity have been raised. The current study addressed discriminant validity, reporting for the first time the correlations among the PID-5 domain scales. Also reported are the bivariate correlations of the 25 PID-5 maladaptive trait scales with the personality domain scales of the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (Costa & McCrae, 1992), the International Personality Item Pool-NEO (Goldberg et al., 2006), the Inventory of Personal Characteristics (Almagor et al., 1995), the 5-Dimensional Personality Test (van Kampen, 2012), and the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised (Lee & Ashton, 2004). The results are discussed with respect to the implications of and alternative explanations for potentially problematic discriminant validity. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Humans frequently cultivate friendships, or enduring and selective social bonds in which partners help each other in times of need, often at great cost to themselves. In recent years, researchers have proposed several evolutionary explanations for the increased helping and sharing among close friends. In this chapter, we review how these evolutionary explanations answer two questions: (1) what proximate psychological mechanisms or cognitive algorithms do people use in choosing to bestow exceptional aid to friends? (2) What evolutionary challenges are likely selected for this tendency to help friends? We then assess how these hypotheses fare in the light of existing evidence from psychology, anthropology, and biology on how close friends help each other and how people cultivate friendships.
Several clinical-behavioral and self-report measures of psychopathy were compared in a sample of 274 male prison inmates. The assessment procedures included global clinical ratings, a 22-item checklist, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), a self-report version of the 22-item checklist, the Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Agreement among the various assessment procedures was evaluated with correlational analyses, discriminant function analyses, and kappa coefficients of diagnostic agreement. There was much stronger agreement among the clinical-behavioral measures (ratings, checklist, and DSM-III) than there was among the self-report measures. Agreement between these two measurement domains was, with few exceptions, rather poor.