The influence of one's first serious romantic relationship on subsequent romantic relationships

The influence of one's first serious romantic relationship on subsequent romantic relationships

Interpersonal attraction

Man-woman relationships

Mate selection

May, Ross William

2008

Abel, Millicent H.

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This investigation into the influence of one's first serious romantic relationship on subsequent romantic relationships partner choice included two studies. Study 1 was a pilot study conducted to design a ""Relationship Survey"" for use in Study 2. This pilot study established an initial self-reported relationship between one's first serious romantic relationship and subsequent relationship partner choice. Furthermore, this study established the self-reported definitions of ""Dating Relationship"" and ""Serious Romantic Relationship"" for use in Study 2. Study 2 further investigated the influence of one's initial serious romantic relationship on subsequent romantic relationships partner choice similarity. I hypothesized that the more cognitively interdependent the romantic partners are, the greater the influence of one's first serious romantic relationship on subsequent relationship partner selection in personality trait similarity. Also, 1 hypothesized that the greater one's self-expansion within their first serious romantic relationship, the stronger the similarity between one's first serious romantic relationship and subsequent partner in personality traits. Participants were distributed questionnaires containing the Demographic and Relationship Survey, two MS-50 Questionnaires, two Self-Expansion Questionnaires (SEQ), and two Inclusion of Other in Self (IOS) scales and asked to describe both their first serious romantic relationship partner and then their current romantic relationship partner or the type of person that they were currently seeking as an ideal romantic relationship partner. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine whether the cognitive interdependence or the self-expansion variables moderated the relationship between each of the Big-Five personality traits of one's first serious romantic relationship partner and their current romantic relationship partner. Results of participant data (n = 72) indicated no statistically significant moderating effects of either cognitive interdependence or self-expansion on partner similarity. Results however did indicate a statistically significant similarity between one's first serious romantic relationship partner and one's current romantic relationship partner for the neuroticism and extroversion factors. Furthermore, in a descriptive analysis of one's first serious romantic relationship, discrepancies were observed between participants who were either still in their first serious romantic relationship or in subsequent relationships As this was the first study to investigate self-concept expansion and cognitive interdependence in one's first serious romantic relationship, future studies should focus on replicating these findings for this initial romantic relationship in order to understand the lack of influence of self-concept expansion and cognitive interdependence. Future research should also focus on finding other possible similarities in personality traits between one's first serious romantic relationship partner and one's current romantic relationship partner.

2015-06-04

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