Date of Award

Summer 8-15-2021

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Author's Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Type

Dissertation

Abstract

The present two-wave research examines two frameworks for predicting relationship maintenance: adult attachment theory and the investment model of commitment. Expanding upon past work, I test models that integrate the two theories such that relationship satisfaction, alternatives, and investment size mediate the relationship between avoidance and commitment, and attachment anxiety moderates the investment model factors’ relationships with accommodation in romantic relationships and friendships. In romantic relationships, increasing partner anxiety reduced the relationship between actor relationship satisfaction and commitment whereas in friendships, increasing actor anxiety increased the relationship between actor relationship satisfaction and commitment. Further, increasing actor anxiety increased the relationship between actor investment size and commitment in romantic relationships, but decreased the relationship between actor investment and commitment in friendships. Additionally, attachment effects generally persisted in models that included extraversion and neuroticism as covariates of avoidance and anxiety respectively; and analyses between model variables at Wave 1 and Wave 2 suggested that relationships between model variables remain stable over a two to thirteen week period.

Language

English (en)

Chair and Committee

Michael Strube

Committee Members

Tammy English, Randy Larsen, Patrick Hill, Cindy Brantmeier,

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