Christopher R. Agnew

Commitment, Pro-Relationship Behavior, and Trust in Close Relationships

The present work advances and tests an interdependence-based model of the associations among commitment, pro-relationship behavior, and trust. Findings from two longitudinal studies revealed good support for model predictions. Commitment-inspired acts such as accommodation and willingness to sacrifice provide diagnostic information regarding a partners pro-relationship motives. Individuals come to trust their partners when they perceive that their partners have enacted pro-relationship behaviors, departing from their direct self-interest for the good of the relationship. The results of mediation analyses are consistent with a model of mutual cyclical growth in which (a) dependence promotes strong commitment, (b) commitment promotes pro-relationship acts, (c) pro-relationship acts are perceived by the partner, (d) the perception of pro-relationship acts enhances the partners trust, and (e) trust increases the partners willingness to become dependent on the relationship. Auxiliary analyses revealed that self-reported attachment style does not account for substantial variance beyond the features of interdependence that form the basis for the present model.

Marginalized Relationships: The Impact of Social Disapproval on Romantic Relationship Commitment

Little research has examined the effects of prejudice and discrimination on peoples romantic relationships. The authors explored whether belonging to a socially devalued relationship affects consequential relational phenomena. Within the framework of the Investment Model, the authors (a) tested the association between perceived relationship marginalization and relationship commitment, (b) compared investment levels of individuals involved in marginalized versus nonmarginalized relationships, and (c) explored ways in which couples may compensate for decreased investments to maintain high commitment. Consistent with hypotheses, marginalization was a significant negative predictor of commitment. Moreover, individuals in marginalized relationships invested significantly less than individuals in nonmarginalized relationships. Despite investing less, marginalized relationship partners were significantly more committed than were their nonmarginalized counterparts. Thus, marginalized partners appeared to compensate for their reduced investments, with evidence suggesting that compensation occurs via reduced perception of relationship alternatives rather than via increased perception of relationship satisfaction.

Relationship Perceptions and Persistence: Do Fluctuations in Perceived Partner Commitment Undermine Dating Relationships?

The authors propose specific temporal profiles that reflect certainty versus doubt about where a partner stands with respect to a dating relationship over time. Two multiwave longitudinal studies focused on within-participant changes in perceived partner commitment. Results from multilevel modeling indicate that individuals whose perceptions of partner commitment fluctuate over time were more likely to be in a relationship that eventually ended than were individuals whose perceptions remained relatively steady. For individuals in recently initiated relationships, the association of fluctuation in perceived partner commitment with later breakup was significant regardless of the initial level of perceived partner commitment or the trend, and for all participants, it remained significant when initial level, trend over time, and fluctuation over time of other meaningful variables were controlled.

Need Fulfillment and Emotional Experience in Interdependent Romantic Relationships

Drawing from theoretical models of emotion and aspects of interdependence theory, we investigated the association among need fulfillment, relative dependence, and emotional experience within romantic relationships. Daily self-reports of general and relationship-related emotional experience and perceived fulfillment of relationship needs were collected on four consecutive days from participants involved in romantic relationships. Consistent with hypotheses, fulfillment of relationship needs was found to significantly predict emotional experience, with the association at times moderated by the geographic distance of the relationship (local versus long-distance). In addition, participants in relationships characterized by an inequality of dependence experienced less positive and more negative relationship-related emotion than did participants in mutually dependent partnerships.

Sunken Costs and Desired Plans: Examining Different Types of Investments in Close Relationships

Although the concept of investments in romantic relationships has featured prominently in close relationships research, there have been no empirical analyses of different types of investments and their possible differential predictive power regarding relationship state or fate. With data from five independent samples, the authors offer and examine investments that differ in terms of their timing (past vs. planned) and materiality (tangible vs. intangible). Cross-sectional and longitudinal tests of hypotheses regarding these investment types provide evidence for the utility of considering specific types of investments in predicting a variety of important relationship factors, including commitment, stability, and the impact of breakup on relationship partners. Intangible investments and planned investments were found to be particularly robust predictors of key relational states and outcomes.

One Love: Explicit Monogamy Agreements among Heterosexual Young Adult Couples at Increased Risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections

HIV prevention strategies among couples include condom use, mutual monogamy, and HIV testing. Research suggests that condom use is more likely with new or casual partners, and tends to decline as relationships become steady over time. Little is known, however, about explicit mutual monogamy agreements and HIV testing within heterosexual couples. This study used data from 434 young heterosexual couples at increased risk of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to assess (a) couple concordance on perceptions of a monogamy agreement, sustained monogamy, and HIV testing; and (b) the associations of relationship and demographic factors with monogamy agreement, sustained monogamy, and HIV testing. Results indicated only slight to fair agreement within couples on measures of monogamy agreement and sustained monogamy. Overall, 227 couples (52%) concurred that they had an explicit agreement to be monogamous; of those, 162 (71%) had sustained the agreement. Couples with greater health protective communication and commitment were more likely to have a monogamy agreement. Couples of Latino and Hispanic ethnicity and those with children were less likely to have a monogamy agreement. Only commitment was related to sustained monogamy. Having children, greater health protective communication, and perceived vulnerability to HIV and STIs were associated with HIV testing within the couple.

Nonmarital Romantic Relationship Commitment and Leave Behavior: The Mediating Role of Dissolution Consideration

Two studies investigated the process by which individuals in nonmarital romantic relationships characterized by low commitment move toward enacting leave behaviors. Predictions based on the behavioral, goal, and implementation intention literatures were tested using a measure of dissolution consideration developed for this research. Dissolution consideration assesses how salient relationship termination is for an individual while ones relationship is intact. Study 1 developed and validated a measure of dissolution consideration and Study 2 was a longitudinal test of the utility of dissolution consideration in predicting the enactment of leave behaviors. Results indicated that dissolution consideration mediates the association between commitment and enacting leave behaviors, is associated with taking more immediate action, and provides unique explanatory power in leave behavior beyond the effect of commitment alone. Collectively, the findings suggest that dissolution consideration is an intermediate step between commitment and stay/leave behavior in close relationships.

Modal versus individually-derived beliefs about condom use: Measuring the cognitive underpinnings of the theory of reasoned action

Abstract Several measurement approaches for assessing the belief underpinnings of the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein and Ajmn, 1975), a cognitive model used extensively to understand the determinants of health behaviors, were compared empirically. Specifically, beliefs about condom use were examined in order to determine (a) whether ones own beliefs or a set of modal beliefs are stronger predictors of global measures of attitude toward behavior, subjective norm. and behavioral intention, and (b) whether measures of the perceived importance, accessibility, or cumulative serial sums of individuallyderived behavioral and normative beliefs yield superior predictions of their respective global constructs, as well as behavioral intention, than do the standard modal belief measures. Results suggest that although individuallyderived beliefs are marginally stronger predictors than their modal counterparts, practical considerations may outweigh the modest gain in predictive accuracy.

Trajectories of smoking among freshmen college students with prior smoking history and risk for future smoking: Data from the University Project Tobacco Etiology Research Network (UpTERN) study

AIMS Little is known about smoking during the transition to college. The current study examined trajectories of smoking among college freshmen, how trajectories predicted later smoking and the social context of smoking. DESIGN Weekly assessments of daily smoking were collected via the web during the first year of college for a large cohort with a previous history of smoking. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING A total of 193 college freshmen from a large public university with a previous history of smoking who smoked frequently enough to be included in trajectory analysis. MEASUREMENTS Measures included weekly reports of daily smoking, family smoking, perceived peer attitudes and smoking, social norms and social smoking environment. FINDINGS Seven trajectories were identified: one of low-level sporadic smoking, one of low-level smoking with a small increase during the year, two classes with a substantial decrease during the year, two classes with relatively small decreases and one class with a substantial increase in smoking. Trajectories of smoking in the freshman year predicted levels of sophomore year smoking, and some social context variables tended to change as smoking increased or decreased for a given trajectory class. CONCLUSIONS The transition into college is marked by changes in smoking, with smoking escalating for some students and continuing into the sophomore year. Shifts in social context that support smoking were associated with trajectories of smoking. Despite the focus of developmental models on smoking in early adolescence, the transition into college warrants further investigation as a dynamic period for smoking.

The Cognitive Mediation Hypothesis Revisited: An Empirical Response to Methodological and Theoretical Criticism

The cognitive mediation hypothesis has become a well-established assumption in persuasion theory. However, several theoretical and methodological criticisms have been raised to call this assumption into question. Three experiments that address these criticisms were conducted to provide a more direct test of the cognitive mediation hypothesis. Using the forewarning effect as a testing arena, Experiment I demonstrated that interference with either motivation or ability to counterargue reduced fore-warning-induced resistance to persuasion. Experiment 2 demonstrated that exposure to counterarguments generated by others and self-generated counterarguments were functionally equivalent and redundant. Experiment 3 used a path-analytic approach to demonstrate that the persuasion differences produced by forewarning were eliminated by covarying the effect of cognitive responses generated between forewarning and message exposure. Taken together, the three experiments provide converging support for the cognitive mediation hypothesis, reconfirming the central role of cognition in the persuasion process.