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Break-Up Anxiety in Conflict Narratives Told by Emerging Adult Couples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2020

Elisa Liang  and
Candice Feiring Open the ORCID record for Candice Feiring [Opens in a new window]
Elisa Liang
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, USA
Candice Feiring*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Candice Feiring, Department of Psychology, SSB 139, The College of New Jersey, PO Box 7718, Ewing, New Jersey, 08628, USA. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Seeking to understand how emerging adult couples frame unmet needs viewed as a threat to their relationship, we examined narratives in which both partners (12 couples) or only one partner (37 couples) expressed break-up anxiety (BUA). The unmet need of Autonomy was more common in partners with BUA whereas Affiliation was more common in those without it. Overlap in narrating the same unmet needs related to BUA was common when both partners expressed BUA, modest when only the female and low when only the male partner expressed BUA. Female partners were more likely to mention BUA and intimacy problems related to BUA than male partners. Couple interventions that target how to disclose and process BUA may help partners develop more effective intimacy skills and, when need be, skills to end relationships in more adaptive ways.

Keywords

break-up anxietynarrativesromantic conflictcouplesemerging adults
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Relationships Research , Volume 11 , 2020 , e8
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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