Why Relationships End

In case you missed it, the cameras were rolling at the APS 23rd Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Watch Judith Biesen from the University of the Pacific present her poster session research on “Sexual Satisfaction and the Decision to Terminate a Romantic Relationship.”

Biesen and her coauthors assessed how two factors — the ascription to certain life roles (i.e. marital role, occupational role, parental role) and topics chosen for a problem-solving discussion) — moderated the relationship between sexual satisfaction and relationship termination. The psychological scientists wished to improve predictions of relationship termination and develop preemptive methods to anticipate and prevent relationship dissolution.

The findings of this research indicate that ascription to life roles did not predict relationship termination for either men or women. Topics chosen for problem-solving discussion predicted relationship termination for men but did not predict relationship termination for women.


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