Browsing by Subject "commitment"

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    Communicating Commitment within Monogamous Romantic Relationships
    (2020-01) Leverenz, Alaina Nicole; Goering, Elizabeth; Brann, Maria; White-Mills, Kim
    This study sought to better understand the communication of commitment in monogamous romantic relationships, including how one communicates his/her commitment to his/her partner and how one interprets messages from his/her partner. Focusing on the fundamentals of communicating commitment to one’s partner proves beneficial in understanding the commitment processes in daily life. In an effort to understand this concept, I used themes from interdependence theory and the investment model to formulate the interview questions and develop the findings. The findings and interpretations demonstrate that couples are communicating their commitment to each other in words/verbal expressions, especially in the beginning stages of the committed relationship; the commitment global construct employed most to communicate commitment in relationship is relational maintenance behaviors; and people perceive that nonverbal expressions of commitment are the best way to interpret messages of commitment from one’s partner.
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    The roles of commitment and attributions on uninvolved partner responses to imagined sexual infidelity
    (2014-08-06) Johnson, Courtney Beth; Rand, Kevin L.
    This study examined the roles of commitment and attributions in uninvolved partner responses to imagined sexual infidelity. Undergraduate students (N = 298) in dating relationships participated in a hypothetical sexual infidelity scenario in which they imagined their romantic partner engaged in sexual intercourse with someone else. Measured-variable path analysis was used to evaluate the predictive ability of commitment and attributions on negative emotional responses and predicted relationship continuation. The hypothesized conceptual model demonstrated poor fit to sample data. Through exploratory model building, an alternative model was generated that demonstrated good fit to sample data. A subset of commitment, investment, predicted negative affect. In addition, attributions predicted predictions of relationship continuation. Negative emotional responses were highly endorsed on a validated measure for emotional responses, the PANAS-X (Watson & Clark, 1994). Further, study findings highlight the importance of the use of a compliance check in assessing successful participant completion of imagined infidelity scenario. Unique study contributions include directions for further conceptual model development for this area of research as well as support for the use of compliance checks and careful selection of infidelity scenario.