Knowing whether to stay in or leave a romantic relationship is often an agonising and worrying experience and that uncertainty can have negative consequences for health and well-being. A new study offers insights into what people are deliberating about and what makes the decision so difficult.
This study could help therapists work with couples and stimulate further research into the decision-making process. The study was led by University of Utah psychology professor Samantha Joel and was published in the journal ‘Social Psychology and Personality Science’.
“Most of the research on breakups has been predictive, trying to predict whether a couple stays together or not, but we don’t know much about the decision process - what are the specific relationship pros and cons that people are weighing out,” said Joel.
In the first phase of the study, the researchers recruited three samples of people including people who were in the midst of trying to decide whether to break up or not to participate in an anonymous survey.
Participants were asked open-ended questions about their specific reasons for both wanting to stay and leave a relationship. That yielded a list of 27 different reasons for wanting to stay in a relationship and 23 reasons for wanting to leave.
The stay/leave factors were then converted into a questionnaire that was given to another group of people who were trying to decide whether to end a dating relationship or marriage. Those dating had been together for two years on average, while married participants reported relationships that averaged nine years.
In both studies, general factors considered as the individuals deliberated what to do were similar.
At the top of the stay list: emotional intimacy, investment and a sense of obligation. At the top of the leave list: issues with a partner’s personality, breach of trust and partner withdrawal.
Individuals in both dating and married situations gave similar reasons for wanting to leave a relationship. But the researchers found significant differences in stay reasoning between the two groups.
Participants who were in a dating relationship said they were considering staying based on more positive reasons such as aspects of their partner’s personality that they like, emotional intimacy and enjoyment of the relationship. Those who were married gave more constraint reasons for staying such as investment into the relationship, family responsibilities, fear of uncertainty and logistical barriers.
About half of the participants said they had reasons to both stay and leave, indicating ambivalence about their relationships.