Me after you: Partner influence and individual effort predict rejection of self-aspects and self-concept clarity after relationship dissolution

Department

Psychological Sciences

Document Type

Article

Publication Source

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Publication Date

2014-07-01

Volume

40

Issue

7

First Page

831

Last Page

844

Abstract

Individuals in ongoing romantic relationships incorporate attributes from their partner into their own self-concepts. However, little research has investigated what happens to these attributes should the relationship end. Across three studies, the present research sought to examine factors that predicted whether individuals retain or reject attributes from their self-concept that they initially gained during a relationship. We predicted that individuals would be more likely to reject attributes from their self post-dissolution if their ex-partner was influential in them adding those attributes to the self in the first place. However, we expected this effect to be moderated such that individuals who exerted greater, versus lesser, effort in maintaining relevant attributes would retain them as part of the self, regardless of whether the attribute originated from the partner. In addition, in two of our three studies, we explored the roles of partner influence, effort, and attribute rejection on individuals' post-dissolution self-concept clarity. © 2014 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Keywords

Effort, Relationship dissolution, Romantic relationships, Self/identity

DOI

10.1177/0146167214528992

https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214528992

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