Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Investigating relationship dispositions as explanations for on-again/off-again relationships

2019; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 37; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0265407519861156

1460-3608

René M. Dailey, Lingzi Zhong, Rudy C. Pett, Darby Scott, Colton E. Krawietz,

Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

The current study explored whether individuals with certain relationship dispositions were more likely to be involved in on-again/off-again (on-off) relationships. A sample of 211 currently dating participants in either on-off or non-cyclical relationships completed an online survey about relationship dispositions (e.g., attachment, implicit beliefs) and positive and negative aspects of relational quality (e.g., satisfaction, commitment, disillusionment). Participants in on-off relationships did not differ from those in non-cyclical relationships with regard to relationship dispositions. Relationship type, however, moderated certain associations between relationship dispositions and relationship qualities showing that the dispositions played a weaker role in relational quality for on-off partners (e.g., the association between growth belief and disillusionment was strong and negative for non-cyclical partners but nonsignificant for on-off partners). Although it was theoretically and practically important to investigate individual differences, interaction dynamics within dyads could be a more prominent factor in explaining on-off relationships.