Unrequited love: The role of prior commitment, motivation to remain friends, and friendship maintenance

This study tested a moderated mediation model that commitment prior to an unrequited love episode will be related to higher levels of friendship maintenance behaviors after the episode and that this relationship will be mediated by the individual's motivations to remain friends with the rejecte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of social psychology 2020-05, Vol.160 (3), p.293-309
Main Authors: Clark, Eddie M., Votaw, Katheryn L. B., Harris, Abigail L., Hasan, Michelle, Fernandez, Priscilla
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Commitment
Connectedness
Friendship
Laypersons
Love
Mediation
Mediators
Medical personnel
Mental health
Mental health professionals
Motivation
Psychological distress
relationship maintenance
Social motivation
Unrequited love
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Summary:This study tested a moderated mediation model that commitment prior to an unrequited love episode will be related to higher levels of friendship maintenance behaviors after the episode and that this relationship will be mediated by the individual's motivations to remain friends with the rejecter. We predicted that rejection distress would weaken the mediational model among those reporting high distress. Participants wrote about an unrequited love experience as a pursuer and completed measures of pre-unrequited love commitment, rejection distress, motivations to remain friends, and friendship maintenance behaviors. Our results confirmed the moderated mediation model when the motivations to remain friends measure overall score, the interpersonal connection motivation, or the social connections motivation was the mediator. When covariates were added, only the model with the overall motivations score as mediator was supported. These data can help laypersons and mental health professionals understand and potentially repair friendships following an unrequited love episode.
ISSN:0022-4545
1940-1183
DOI:10.1080/00224545.2019.1648234