Is Breaking Up Hard to Do? Exploring Emerging Adults' Perceived Abilities to End Romantic Relationships

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• Author: Jonathon J. Beckmeyer,Tyler B. Jamison
• Date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12404

J J. BIndiana University

T B. JUniversity of New Hampshire

Is Breaking Up Hard to Do? Exploring Emerging

Adults’ Perceived Abilities to End

Romantic Relationships

Objective: To explore emerging adults’ beliefs

about their ability to end romantic relation-

ships and to identify demographic, personality,

and romantic experience factors associated with

breakup beliefs.

Background: Although, ending relationships is

a key component of emerging adult romantic

development, research suggests that breakups

tend to be protracted and painful. Little is known

about what individual skills might be relevant in

making breakups smoother for both members of

a couple.

Method: Using a cross-sectional design and

drawing from an existing survey panel, 948

emerging adults completed an online survey

about their romantic experiencesand health out-

comes.

Results: Most participants perceived that

they can carry out breakup-related tasks; they

reported knowing when to break up, being able

to do so appropriately, being able to accept

it when someone breaks up with them, and

not delaying breaking up. However, a sizable

proportion of participants (23.5% to 47.1%

Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana Uni-

versity School of Public Health–Bloomington, 1025 E.

7th Street, Suite 116, Bloomington, IN 47405 (jbeck-

mey@indiana.edu).

Key Words: breakups, emergingadulthood, relationship dis-

solution, romantic development.

depending on the item) reported that they

lacked the skills necessary to end romantic

relationships. Beliefs about the ability to end

relationships were most consistently associated

with emerging adults’ general self-efcacy.

Conclusion: Although most emerging adults in

the sample appeared condent in their abilities

to break up, a sizeable minority indicated that

they lacked key skills to end relationships.

Implications: Relationship education programs

for emerging adults generally do not focus on

relationship dissolution. Yet our ndings suggest

that some emerging adults may need opportuni-

ties to build skills that will help them exit rela-

tionships that are unhealthy, unsatisfying,or out

of sync with their individual goals.

Romantic involvement during emerging adult-

hood (18–29years of age) typically involves

forming and dissolving multiple romantic rela-

tionships, with varying degrees of emotional

intimacy, sexual intimacy, and potential for

long-term commitment (Arnett, 2015; Boisvert

& Poulin, 2016; Rauer, Pettit, Lansford, Bates,

& Dodge, 2013). Although relationship dissolu-

tion is a normative emerging adult experience,

research on breakups has generally highlighted

the potential for inducing negative outcomes,

such as emotional distress (Rhoades, Kamp

Dush, Atkins, Stanley, & Markham, 2011;

Wrape, Jenkins, Callahan, & Nowlin, 2016)

1028Family Relations 69 (December 2020): 1028–1040

DOI:10.1111/fare.12404