Date of Award
5-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Communication Studies
Committee Chair/Advisor
Skye Wingate
Committee Member
Erin Ash
Committee Member
Brandon Boatwright
Abstract
This study examined past romantic relationship partner break-up strategies (OPBS) and their influence on subsequent romantic relationship conflict strategies (SRCS) through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT). According to SCT, observed behaviors are modeled by individuals through the mechanisms of attention, retention, motivational process and production. Past research supports the idea that romantic relationship partners and break-ups are likely to be considered important and memorable to an individual, however research has not yet investigated if romantic relationship break-ups could incite observational learning. Break-up strategies and conflict strategies have been conceptualized and evaluated very similarly by past research. Therefore, it stands to reason that OPBS could in fact incite observational learning with the production of the behavior manifesting in SRCS. This investigation of the influence of OPBS on SRCS is novel and will provide insight into the nature of observational learning that may occur from past romantic break-ups. This study also examined relationship commitment and break-up distress as potential moderating variables of OPBS on SRCS. In summation, the goals of this study are three-fold a) determining if observational learning occurs between OPBS and SRCS, b) investigating how the moderating variables of relationship commitment and break-up distress impact the modeling process and c) identifying current trends of college students’ break-up and conflict strategies.
Recommended Citation
Garza, Mattelyn, "The Influence of Break-Ups On Subsequent Romantic Relationship Conflict Strategies Among College Students" (2023). All Theses. 4050.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/4050