NCJ Number
225642
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 31 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 729-745
Date Published
December 2008
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study of 35 couples (college students, ages 18-24), who had been dating for no longer than 6 months, assessed associations between the nature and intensity of their romantic preoccupation with their partners and the way they handled disagreements.
Abstract
The findings show that higher levels of romantic preoccupation with a partner were related to partners’ inclination to minimize their disagreements and to a less effective negotiation of their differences. The same assessment 6 weeks later indicated that where levels of romantic preoccupation among the partners remained stable, the partners showed an increasing ability to recognize and face their disagreements, as well as a more realistic and effective approach to negotiating their disagreements. These findings suggest that two processes are operating within a bond between romantic partners. One process involves the attraction or preoccupation with one another, and the second process pertains to the quality and style of conflict negotiation that evolves over time. Participants were recruited through flyers placed on college campuses and in a local newspaper aimed at youth. The level of romantic preoccupation with one’s partner was measured with the Romantic Love and Inventory of Thoughts and Actions Interview (Mayes, Cohen, Swain, and Leckman, 2007). Each partner completed the Knox inventory in order to measure the level of disagreement between partners on 10 domains: political views, friends, money, sex, interpersonal communication, giving or accepting attention, relationships with family, leisure time and activities, eating and drinking habits, and jealousy. Styles of handling disagreements were coded according to confrontation, quality of negotiation ability, positive affect, minimizing the conflict, and negative affect. 2 tables and 61 references