Is the fear of breaking up with your partner nagging you? According to a study, the level of fear may influence the romance and commitment, thereby either boosting your relationship further or ending it. The study, conducted by researchers from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Italy, stated that when a couple is made aware that certain possibilities could end the relationship, they grew more passionate towards each other.
This would further enable the partners to strengthen their love bond. Published in the journal Motivation and Emotion, the study included participants who were already involved in romantic relationships. They were divided in two groups whereby the first group was provided the statistics of the list of failures in their relationship while the second group was given false feedback about the end of their relationships.
The results showed that romance and commitment diminished when they heard that there could be either a high or low risk of a break-up. However, when participants were told that there was only a moderate chance that the relationship would end, the level of commitment grew stronger. "This shows that, when faced with a 'too high' risk of ending the relationship, people clearly reduce the intensity of their positive feelings towards the romantic partner," said Simona Sciara, researcher at the varsity.
The researchers established that the influence of such manipulated risk on romantic commitment was fully mediated by feelings of romantic affect. Such distress may also increase the risk of health-related outcomes, especially depression. "Reduced relationship commitment leads to dissolution considerations and, thereby, to actual relationship breakup," added Giuseppe Pantaleo, another researcher of the same study. "Relationship breakup, in turn, plays a critical role in the onset of depression, psychological distress, and reduced life satisfaction," he added.
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