Relationship Maintenance Knowledge and Self-Efficacy

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This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Christopher R. Agnew at Purdue University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating a novel and integrative analysis of relationship maintenance strategies. A variety of thoughts and behaviors have been shown to promote relationship satisfaction and commitment, which, in turn, contribute to long-term stability. However, many adults are unaware of these strategies and there is a disconnect between relationship attainment and relationship sustenance. This project examines whether adults are aware of these relationship maintenance strategies, whether they perceive themselves as able to employ such strategies, and how their readiness affects these perceptions. Disseminating information on effective maintenance strategies and ways to implement them can improve relationship success and longevity. This research examines what it is that adults know about relationship maintenance strategies and how their knowledge affects their efforts to achieve a desired relationship state. The first aim in this research is to assess and validate adults’ beliefs regarding relationship maintenance strategies, including their belief in strategy efficacy and self-efficacy for maintaining relationships. Specifically, adults are provided with strategies that vary in effectiveness for maintaining relationships, and they report on their perceptions of (a) whether a specific strategy is effective and (b) their own self-efficacy in implementing the strategies. The second aim investigates whether reports of relationship maintenance efficacy and commitment readiness obtained from participants and from members of their social network predict their future relationship success. This aim involves a prospective, longitudinal design in which participants provide responses over time as they initiate a new relationships, people in their social network provide similar responses, and these are combined to predict relationship success. The third aim tests whether raising awareness of effective maintenance strategies and/or bolstering maintenance self-efficacy leads to greater likelihood of subsequent relationship initiation(s) and use of strategies. The project improves the prediction of relationship stability in a way that simultaneously improves the probability of relationship maintenance.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.