Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

7-2024

Abstract

We introduce a model of relationship commitment regulation, which describes how romantic partners might use empirically-validated antecedents of commitment level strategically to influence a partner's commitment toward their relationship based on certain commitment goals they have for the relationship. People are generally aware of and relatively accurate with respect to knowing their partner's level of commitment and also have preferences regarding their desired level. We summarize key antecedents of commitment level (i.e., satisfaction level, alternative quality, investment size, future plans, and subjective norms) and then describe how each can be manipulated via relationship maintenance activities to move a partner's commitment level up or down, or maintained at a desired current level. Collectively, the model provides a strategic roadmap for actions one can take to foster desired commitment in one's partner and provides insight into the dyadic processes and outcomes of relationship maintenance.

Keywords

relationship commitment, relationship maintenance, relationship processes, relationship satisfaction, social influence

Discipline

Personality and Social Contexts | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Social and Personality Psychology Compass

Volume

18

Issue

7

First Page

1

Last Page

11

ISSN

1751-9004

Identifier

10.1111/spc3.12986

Publisher

Wiley

Copyright Owner and License

Authors-CC-BY-NC

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12986

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