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Relationship Churning, Physical Violence, and Verbal Abuse in Young Adult Relationships
Author(s) -
HalpernMeekin Sarah,
Manning Wendy D.,
Giordano Peggy C.,
Longmore Monica A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of marriage and family
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.578
H-Index - 159
eISSN - 1741-3737
pISSN - 0022-2445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.01029.x
Subject(s) - churning , psychology , perspective (graphical) , developmental psychology , verbal abuse , romance , social psychology , nonverbal communication , association (psychology) , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , medicine , medical emergency , labour economics , artificial intelligence , computer science , psychoanalysis , economics , psychotherapist
Young adults' romantic relationships are often unstable, commonly including breakup –reconcile patterns. From the developmental perspective of emerging adulthood exploration, such relationship “churning” is expected; however, minor conflicts are more common in churning relationships. Using data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study ( N = 792), the authors tested whether relationship churning is associated with more serious conflict, such as physical violence and verbal abuse. Couples who were stably broken up (breakup only—no reconciliation) were similar to those who were stably together in their conflict experiences. In contrast, churners (i.e., those involved in on/off relationships) were twice as likely as those who were stably together or stably broken up to report physical violence and half again as likely to report the presence of verbal abuse in their relationships; this association between churning and conflict held net of a host of demographic, personal, and relationship characteristics. These findings have implications for our better understanding of unhealthy relationship behaviors.