The authors advance an interdependence analysis of willingness to sacrifice. Support for model predictions was revealed in 6 studies (3 cross-sectional survey studies, 1 simulation experiment, 2 longitudinal studies) that used a novel self-report measure and a behavioral measure of willingness to sacrifice. Willingness to sacrifice was associated with strong commitment, high satisfaction, poor alternatives, and high investments; feelings of commitment largely mediated the associations of these variables with willingness to sacrifice. Moreover, willingness to sacrifice was associated with superior couple functioning, operationalized in terms of level of dyadic adjustment and probability of couple persistence. In predicting adjustment, willingness to sacrifice accounted for significant variance beyond commitment, partially mediating me link between commitment and adjustment; such mediation was not significant for persistence.

The Safe Dates program shows promise for preventing dating violence among adolescents.

No abstract

This article presents the first systematic empirical examination of the state of relationship commitment as advanced by Rusbult and her colleagues, defining the state in terms of affective, cognitive, and conative components. From this perspective, the state of commitment is seen as having three distinct components: (a) psychological attachment, (b) long-term orientation, and (c) intention to persist. Two longitudinal studies of individuals in dating relationships revealed that the three components each predict both couple functioning and eventual breakup status.Both studies also provided suggestive evidence that long-term orientation is a particularly important component of commitment in dating relationships.

This research examined the association between relationship satisfaction and later breakup status, focusing on the temporal changes in satisfaction ratings of individuals in newly formed dating relationships. Growth curve analytic techniques were used in 2 longitudinal studies to create 4 predictors: each participant's initial level of satisfaction, linear trend in satisfaction over time, degree of fluctuation in satisfaction over time, and mean level of satisfaction. Consistent with hypotheses, individuals who exhibited greater fluctuation in their repeated satisfaction ratings were more likely to be in relationships that eventually ended, even after controlling for overall level of satisfaction. Individuals with fluctuating levels of satisfaction also reported relatively lower commitment. The results are discussed in terms of conditions that promote versus undermine relationship stability.