title: On-again/off-again dating relationships: what keeps partners coming back?
abstract: Building on research comparing on-again/off-again (on-off) relationships to other dating relationships, the current study focused on a unique feature of these relationships-renewals. A sample of 274 participants who had experienced an on-off relationship completed a survey about why they renewed their relationships, characteristics of their breakups and renewals, and what stressors and benefits they experienced. These characteristics were used to predict the occurrence of renewals, separately as well as in multivariate analyses. In addition to lingering feelings being a predominant reason for renewals, findings suggested uncertainty about what the preceding breakup indicated, not having dated others after breakups, and feeling the on-off nature improved the relationship were all related to an increased chance of renewals. Mutual initiations of breakups, as well as reporting uncertainty about the general nature of the relationship, were also related to a decreased chance of renewals.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, Department of Communication Studies, 1 University Station A1105, Austin, TX 78712-0115, USA. rdailey@mail.utexas.edu
authors.forename: René M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Dailey
authors.forename: Borae
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Abigail
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pfiester
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Beck
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003380:Courtship / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D035501:Uncertainty; D055815:Young Adult