Predicting Relationship Status and Satisfaction after Six Months among Dating Couples

Abstract

This study used the investment model to predict relationship status and satisfaction among a sample of heterosexual dating couples. Both partners of 42 couples completed measures of commitment, relationship satisfaction, alternative quality (i.e., perceptions of how easy it would be to do better in another relationship than in the present one), and relationship duration at Time 1. Six months later, measures of relationship status and satisfaction were completed. On several dimensions, females had cognitions that were more relationship maintaining than did males. A path analysis did not support the investment model. However, females' perceptions at Time 1 that they had poor quality relationship alternatives predicted positive relationship status 6 months later. Time 1 scores predicted both males' and females' Time 2 relationship satisfaction, although males' Time 1 views of the relationship were more strongly predictive of females' Time 2 relationship satisfaction than vice versa. These findings suggest that females may be more invested in their relationships than are males and that this greater investment may provide them with more influence over the future course of their relationships.