Negotiating Breakups and Renewals in On-Again/Off-Again Dating Relationships: Traversing the Transitions

A Dimensional Approach to Characterizing On-Again/Off-Again Romantic Relationships

“…A potential reason relationships become or remain on-off in nature is that partners do not perceive their alternatives as much higher in quality than their on-off partner (Dailey, Rossetto, et al, 2009;Dailey, Rossetto, et al, 2012). Some partners may wish to pursue their alternatives while maintaining their on-off relationship in some form.…”

“…Relational transitions can occur in various ways (Mongeau & Teubner, 2002), and variability in how on-off partners manage their transitions should be reflected in the on-off dimensions. Based on Dailey, Rossetto, McCracken, Jin, and Green's (2012) conclusions regarding relational transitions in on-off relationships, the specific transition characteristics we assess, for both breakups and renewals, are: directness, explicitness, mutuality, struggle, and resolve. These characteristics should reflect differences in the on-off dimensions.…”

“…Most breakups in dating relationships are not mutual (e.g., Sprecher, 1994), particularly in on-off relationships ; and partners are more persistent in reconciliation attempts when dissolutions were unilateral (Cupach & Metts, 2002). In addition, on-off partners often struggle with the relational transitions (Dailey, Rossetto, et al, 2012). Many couples maintain contact after breakups (Dailey, Rossetto, Pfiester, & Surra, 2009), but some partners report difficulty in determining the appropriate quantity and quality of contact after breakups.…”

“…Finally, resolve pertains to partners' decisiveness in redefining the relationship, or in other words, their commitment in maintaining the most recent transition. To manage the transitions, some on-off partners allowed an "open door" after a breakup or declared trial renewals showing they viewed the transitions as malleable or temporary (Dailey, Rossetto, et al, 2012).…”

“…Based on Dailey, Rossetto, et al (2012) and Dailey et al (2013), five breakup and renewal characteristics salient to on-off relationships were assessed. Similar to the on-off dimensions, the authors created several items for each dimension and selected the items that best captured the transition characteristics.…”