Support Gaps Surrounding Conversations about Coping with Relational Transgressions

Abstract

This study investigated the existence and outcomes of support gaps between perceptions of desired and received support surrounding conversations about coping with a relational transgression. Support gaps were measured immediately surrounding an interaction between 50 transgressed individuals and a third-party personal network member. Participants generally desired more support than they received across all types of support considered in this study. Findings show surpluses in esteem support were associated with less anger and dejection stemming from the transgression, whereas surpluses in emotional support corresponded with less motivation to avoid the transgressor.

Keywords:

• Coping
• Personal Networks
• Relational Transgressions
• Support Gaps
• Supportive Communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The preliminary models included controls for potential co-variates including: age, gender, relationship type, time since transgression, perceived severity of transgression, relationship closeness, and relationship satisfaction. Finding no significant associations, these variables were removed from the models for the sake of parsimony.