Essay - Development and Evaluation of a Measure of Fear of Commitment...

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A MEASURE ***** FEAR OF COMMITMENT

ABSTRACT

***** study developed and evaluated an instrument intended to measure the readiness of persons ***** commit to other in serious intimate relationships. The administration ***** the instrument measured responses as controlled for respondent age and respondent gender. The results indicate that women under the age of 30 appear to be more ready for commitment than either men or wo***** 30 and older. Women 30 ***** older tend ***** be ***** indifferent to commitment than do either men or ********** ***** 30.

Introduction

***** readiness of people ***** commitment has *****en studied from a v*****riety of perspectives (Kiecolt-Glaser, Bane, Glaser, & Malarkey, 2003). There appear to be as many explanations ***** to why a person is or ***** not ready ***** commit to another in a serious intim*****te relationship, as there are studies on the issue (Fehr, 1999).

This study sought to develop an ***** ***** *****sess a pers*****'s re*****diness for commitment in a serious intimate relationship. An instrument was developed on the basis of the findings of research reported in the literature.

***** Review

***** *****d Betz (1990) found ***** Fear ***** commitment was related to both state and trait anxiety ***** to self-esteem and was also found ***** be significantly higher in undecided vs. decided college students.

*****, et al. (2003) found that dat*****g students anticipating the transiti***** from university to work deliberated about increasing their ***** or thought about how to maintain ***** relationships after graduation; and that this mindset manipulation interacted with subsequent ratings of relationship closeness and perceived partner commitment to predict relationship status six months later.

Arriaga (2001) ***** that individu*****s who exhibited greater fluctuation in their repeated satisfaction ratings were more likely ***** be in relationships ***** eventually ended, even ***** controll*****g for overall level of satisfaction. Miller (1997) found that Commitment to a relationship is affected by the quality of one's alternatives ***** ***** *****ship, but one must be aw***** of those ***** in order ***** them to be influential. Floyd ***** Wasner (1994) found that perceptions of alternatives involved separating the field of desirable alternatives from the field ***** available *****.

Kirkpatrick and Davis (*****) found a need to integrate ***** role considerations and relationship dynamics and processes in***** theorizing on adult attachment. Drigotas and Rusbult (1992) found that need ***** dependence measures identify important needs in a ***** ***** compare satisfaction of ***** needs in the current relationship to satisfaction in alternative *****s. Simpson (1990) found that for both men and women, the secure ***** style was associated ***** ***** relationship interdependence, commitment, trust, and satisfaction than were the anxious or avoidant attachment *****s. Hedrick, et al. (1988) ***** that love attitudes ***** related to *****, ***** several other measures (e.g., commitment, investment, self-esteem, and self-disclosure) were also important correlates of satisfaction. Adams (1997) found ***** an attraction component based on devotion, *****, and love, a moral normative component based on a sense of person*****l responsibility ***** maintaining the marri*****