Greetings,
In 2010, the peer reviewed journal Personal Relationships published an article entitled Predicting nonmarital romantic relationship dissolution: A meta-analytic synthesis which revealed much information on concepts associated with non-marital romantic relationship breakups. The article included data collected from 37,761 participants and 137 studies over 33 years.
Much of it is rather depressing, but there was a good section on what was associated with a stable relationship (an excerpt follows):
Predictors of relationship stability
...Many of these variables, such as closeness (Berscheid, Snyder, & Omoto, 1989), commitment, satisfaction, alternatives, and investments (Rusbult, 1983) stem from interdependence theory (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959). Likewise, other affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of dyads include love (Rubin, 1970), overlap or closeness between partners (i.e., Inclusion of Other in the Self [IOS]; Aron, Aron, & Smollan, 1992), conflict (Surra & Longstreth, 1990), trust (Fletcher, Simpson, & Thomas, 2000), uncertainty (Braiker & Kelley, 1979), adjustment (Spanier, 1976), and positive illusions and perceived superiority regarding one’s relationship (Murray & Holmes, 1997; Rusbult, Van Lange, Wildschut, Yovetich, & Verette, 2000).
Finally, stemming from the growing literature on social networks (Sprecher, Felmlee, Schmeeckle, & Shu, 2006), dyadic stability may be influenced by external factors. Network members’ approval or support may
impact dyadic processes (Sprecher, Felmlee, Orbuch, & Willetts, 2001) and be associated
with relationship fate (Etcheverry & Agnew, 2004), and the extent to which partners’ networks
overlap (Agnew, Loving, & Drigotas, 2001) may promote stability.
For those of you that like lists, I have composed the following based on the above:
Concepts Related To NonMarital Relationship Stability
*Closeness
*Commitment
*Satisfaction
*Alternatives
*Investments
*Love
*Overlap or closeness between partners (i.e., Inclusion of Other in the Self [IOS])
*Conflict
*Trust
*Uncertainty
*Adjustment
*Positive illusions and perceived superiority regarding one’s relationship
*Stability may be influenced by external factors. Social network members’ approval or support may impact relationship processes and be associated with relationship fate, and the extent to which partners’ networks overlap may promote stability.
Until next time...
Sources, Additional Information, and External Links
Personal Relationships Predicting nonmarital romantic relationship dissolution: A meta-analytic synthesis
Interdependence theory on Wikipedia
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships Premarital Relationship Stability: A Review of Recent Research