Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-22-2020

Publication Title

Interpersona

Volume

14

Issue

2

First page number:

87

Last page number:

103

Abstract

A majority of romantic pair-bonds will not remain together. Surprisingly, however, less is known about relationship dissolution compared with other stages of romantic relationships, such as initiation and maintenance. The present study addresses this gap by investigating breakup initiators’ communication strategies as outcomes for the individual’s attachment style and the emotional intimacy of a recent terminated romantic relationship. Participants (N = 174) completed a series of empirically reliable and valid Likert-scale measures to assess both predictors: (a) adult attachment and (b) emotional intimacy. Emotional intimacy was a significant predictor of each of the four breakup communication strategies, and adult attachment style – particularly attachment anxiety - was significantly related to specific communication strategies, primarily those related to openness. This researcher concluded that emotional intimacy better predictors of breakup communication strategy compared with attachment style. Limitations and a general discussion or summary of findings are provided, followed by some suggestions for future research.

Keywords

Breakup communication; Romantic dissolution; Adult attachment; Emotional intimacy

Disciplines

Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences

File Format

PDF

File Size

246 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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