Personality and Social Contexts Commons^™

It’S About Time: Readiness, Commitment And Stability In Close Relationships, Christopher R. Agnew, Benjamin W. Hadden, Kenneth Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Timing matters in relationships. People vary in their sense of when they think the time is right to be involved in a committed relationship. We propose and examine the construct of commitment readinessand its role in predicting important relationship outcomes including commitment level, maintenance processes, and stability among involved intimates. Data from five independent samples obtained with various methods revealed, as hypothesized, that readiness (a) predicts commitment, maintenance processes, and actions toward ending a relationship; (b) serves to moderate commitment in predicting maintenance processes (self-disclosure, accommodation, sacrifice); and (c) serves to moderate commitment in predicting leave behavior, with those reporting …