The role of multi-level relationship maintenance on married couples' commitment

Hu, Yifan

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/115417 Copy

Description

Title

The role of multi-level relationship maintenance on married couples' commitment

Author(s)

Hu, Yifan

Issue Date

2022-04-26

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ogolsky, Brian G.

Committee Member(s)

Kramer, Karen Z.

Department of Study

Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies

Discipline

Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• relationship maintenance
• commitment
• couple dynamics

Abstract

Relationship maintenance is critical for marital commitment. The constant interaction of the relationship maintenance processes between partners constitutes a complex context of relationship maintenance. The multi-level relationship maintenance includes maintenance processes and properties. The processes contain both partners’ relationship maintenance enactment and perception of partners’ relationship maintenance. The properties of relationship maintenance include similarity, accuracy, and perceived equity. Also, people’s subjective evaluation of the relationship might moderate the association between multi-level relationship maintenance and commitment. Thus, this study investigated the actor and partner effects of relationship maintenance processes and properties on commitment as moderated by relationship satisfaction. This study recruited 193 heterosexual married couples from the midwestern US and adopted the two-intercept Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) to analyze the cross-sectional data. The results demonstrated a positive association between husbands’ relationship maintenance enactment and their commitment, a negative association between similarity of relationship maintenance enactment and wives’ commitment, and a negative association between husbands’ perceived equity and their commitment. Satisfaction was strongly associated with participants’ commitment and moderated the association between relationship maintenance enactment and commitment for both partners, the association between husbands’ maintenance enactment and wives’ commitment, and the association between husbands’ perceived equity and wives’ commitment. The findings suggest further research to investigate the mechanisms of similarity, accuracy, and perceived equity. Limitations in theoretical background, sampling, and statistical methods are also discussed.

Graduation Semester

2022-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Yifan Hu

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