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Abstract
A short-term longitudinal study tested predictions from Rusbult's (Citation1983) investment model. In phase one, individuals in dating relationships rated the quality of their alternatives, as well as their levels of satisfaction, investment, and commitment. In phase two, those who had experienced a relational transgression (sexual infidelity, deception, or third-party dating/flirting) since completing the first questionnaire recalled the communication they had used about a week or two after finding out about their partner's transgression. In phase one, the bases of dependence—satisfaction, investment, and quality of alternatives—predicted commitment. These bases of dependence also predicted communication in phase two. Contrary to some previous work, commitment did not mediate the association between the bases of dependence and communication. Instead, results suggested that the components comprising commitment are directly associated with communication following relational transgressions.
Notes
Notes. Tukey B range tests demonstrated that means in each row that are marked with different superscripts are significantly different from one another. De-escalation involves letting conditions get worse or threatening to break up. Distributive communication involves engaging in verbally aggressive communication. These variables were measured on a 1–7 scale, with 7 indicating that participants reported more of a particular type of communication.
Note. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001, one-tailed. All F-values are significant at the .001 level.