Relational Maintenance,Commitment,And Intimate Partner Violence:A Study Based On Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

Relational maintenance refers to the communication approaches people use to sustain desired relational characteristics. Commitment is defined as a subjective state of relational interdependence, including a psychological attachment to the partner, a long-term orientation to the relationship, and an intention to persist in the relationship. Intimate partner violence(IPV) refers to any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship. A number of studies have indicated that relational maintenance can improve the level of perceived commitment, and that commitment is a crucial factor that helps individual put the brakes on violence. The current article employed the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model(APIM) to examine the relationship among relational maintenance, commitment, and IPV to extend the research of IPV with a new research and analysis method from a new point of view.The study 1 revised the Investment Model Scale(IMS) into Chinese version to develop an instrument to measure commitment, in a sample of Chinese junior undergraduates who are involved in a dating relationship(N = 374). Then, 201 dating couples completed a battery of questionnaires including the Relational Maintenance Strategy Measure, the IMS, and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales in study 2, which employed the APIM to analyze the data with SPSS 16.0 and Lisrel 8.80.The conclusions are as follow:1. The revised IMS is a reliable and valid instrument, which can be used to assess the perceived satisfaction level, quality of alternatives, investment size, and commitment level in the intimate relationship.2. The perceived relational maintenance of the individual can improve his/her own commitment level(actor effects), however, it can't affect the commitment level of the partner(partner effects).3. The commitment level of the women can reduce her violent behavior(actor effect) as well as abusive behavior(partner effect), however, the commitment level of men can't predict violence within intimate partners.4. The relational maintenance of the women predict her own commitment, which in turn predict her violent behavior(actor effect) and abusive behavior(partner effect), however, the relational maintenance of the men isn't associated with his violent behavior or abusive behavior.