Responsibility and rumination: The trouble with understanding the dissolution of a relationship.

Research on perceived control suggests that individuals who claim responsibility for ending an intimate relationship adapt better to relationship dissolution than do those who eschew such responsibility. The present study examined the role that responsibility for relationship maintenance (investment) plays in cognitive processes related to adaptation. In addition, this study examined the influence of holding the belief that one does or does not understand. It was hypothesized that perceived rejection would lead to poorer adaptation, especially for those who lacked understanding and had perceived themselves as maintaining the relationship. In addition, this study investigated the possibility that understanding what happened may not always lead to better adaptation; that is, a perceived sense of understanding of what events led to the relationship breakup was hypothesized to be associated with poorer adaptation for those individuals who terminated relationships in which they had made a large investment. Par...

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