Post-Breakup Unwanted Pursuit: A Refined Analysis of the Role of Romantic Relationship Characteristics (original) (raw)
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Unwanted Pursuit Behavior After Breakup: Occurrence, Risk Factors, and Gender Differences
Journal of Family Violence, 2015
This study investigated unwanted pursuit behavior (UPB) perpetration in 631 adult expartners. UPB involves the unwanted pursuit of intimacy, a widespread and usually less severe form of stalking. The occurrence and various risk factors of UPB perpetration were examined, accounting for differences between male and female ex-partners and same-and opposite-gender ex-partners. Ex-partners showed on average five to six UPBs after their separation. Male and female and same-and opposite-gender ex-partners displayed an equal number of UPBs. The number of perpetrated UPBs was explained by breakup characteristics (ex-partner initiation of the breakup and rumination or cognitive preoccupation with the expartner), relationship characteristics (anxious attachment in the former relationship), and individual perpetrator characteristics (borderline traits and past delinquent behaviors). Rumination was a stronger predictor in female than male ex-partners. Borderline traits and anxious attachment positively predicted UPB perpetration in opposite-gender but not in samegender ex-partners. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Violence and victims, 2000
This study investigated the prevalence and predictors of unwanted pursuit behaviors among college students. Participants (n = 282) had experienced the termination of a meaningful romantic relationship. Two questionnaires were administered. One assessed unwanted pursuit behaviors that were perpetrated by individuals who had not initiated the relationship breakup (breakup sufferers; n = 120); the other assessed individuals who had initiated the relationship breakup (relationship dissolvers; n = 162). Results indicated that most breakup sufferers had engaged in at least one act of unwanted pursuit (i.e., unwanted phone calls, unwanted in-person conversations) after the breakup. Breakup sufferers were more likely than relationship dissolvers to perceive a positive impact from their unwanted pursuit behavior. Partner-specific attachment experiences and love styles emerged as significant predictors of unwanted pursuit behavior perpetration, according to both victims and perpetrators of un...
Effect of the Breakup Context on Unwanted Pursuit Behavior Perpetration Between Former Partners*
Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2011
Former partners comprise the most important subgroup of stalkers. However, contextual factors related to the breakup are hardly examined to explain ex-partner pursuit. In a community sample of 194 separated persons, about one fifth perpetrated at least one unwanted pursuit behavior in the past two weeks. Being woman, lowly educated and socially undesirable raised the number of perpetrated behaviors. Beyond these effects, the number of behaviors increased when the cause of the break was attributed to the ex-partner or external factors, and when the ex was appraised as the breakup initiator. Breakup reasons, the expartner's lack in meeting family obligations and own infidelity, also related to pursuit behaviors albeit inferior to subjective attributions and appraisals of initiation. Finally, participants who felt more anxious or lonely negative showed more behaviors. The results enlighten that the breakup context gains further attention. Clinical treatment might benefit from fostering cognitive reconstructions and breakup adjustment.
Post-breakup Emotion and Obsessive Relational Intrusion in the Mediated World
2014
The present study focused on those who had recently been involved in a romantic relationship that ended in a breakup. Data was collected from 326 participants using an online questionnaire. Participants were asked questions about goal linking, rumination, self-efficacy, Facebook ORI behaviors, and emotional response questions. The results indicated that there were two types of Facebook ORI behaviors: explicit and covert. Explicit ORI was predicted by self-efficacy among those whose partner ended the relationship, as well as goal linking when the breakup was self-initiated. Covert ORI was predicted by rumination across all levels of breakup initiator (self, partner, or mutual). Moreover, only general negative emotions predicted Covert ORI, but general negative emotion and positive emotion predicted Explicit ORI. Finally, the results showed that those who were broken up with engaged in more Covert ORI behaviors than those who ended the relationship themselves or who mutually ended the relationship. These results suggest that Relational Goal Pursuit theory, which is commonly used to explain ORI behavior, be reconceptualized.
Intimate Partner Stalking/Pursuit: A Pathophysiology of Attachment Style
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 2021
Approximately half of stalking victims were previously in an intimate relationship with the perpetrator, and attachment style is strongly correlated with intimate partner stalking (IPS). In the first study to investigate polyvagal theory in IPS, we examined 58 adult participants’ attachment style, sex, history of IPS, vagal tone activity (i.e., heart rate variability; HRV), and cognitive processing disruptions (i.e., Stroop performance) in either participants who wished a relationship or in those who wished to maintain a relationship post-break-up. Results showed that males were more likely to perpetrate IPS than females. Anxious-style participants were more likely to have perpetrated IPS, showed greater cognitive disruption and HRV than avoidant-style participants. Our results support theories that attachment is a biological imperative with neurobiological implications that can be indexed physiologically and cognitively. This study is the first to demonstrate a pathophysiology of a...
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Much information is known about the long-term consequences of separation and divorce, whereas there is a paucity of studies about the short-term consequences of such experiences. This study investigates the adoption of dysfunctional behaviors (e.g., insistent telephone calls and text messages, verbal threats, and sending unwanted objects) shortly after a relationship dissolution. A total of 136 participants who declared to have been left by their former partner in the previous 6 months were included in this study (i.e., females: n = 84; males: n = 52; mean age = 30.38; SD = 4.19). Attachment styles were evaluated as explanatory variables when facing a relationship dissolution, in connection with a set of (1) demographic variables (i.e., gender, education, and current marital/relationship status), (2) dysfunctional behaviors, and (3) motivations on the basis of those behaviors. Results showed that a secure or dismissing attachment style, a higher education, and currently married (but...
Maladaptive Responses to Relationship Dissolution: The Role of Relationship Contingent Self-Worth
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2011
The present study examined responses to romantic breakup as a function of relationship contingency of self-worth (CSW)-the degree to which individuals base self-worth on being in a romantic relationship. Relationship CSW was hypothesized to be a vulnerability factor, exacerbating affective and behavioral responses to romantic relationship dissolution. Results of structural equation modeling (N = 312) revealed that among participants who reported a breakup over the past year, those who more strongly based self-worth on being in a relationship reported greater emotional distress and obsessive pursuit of their ex-partners than did those with lower relationship CSW. Specifically, emotional distress partially mediated the link between relationship CSW and obsessive pursuit. Implications of relationship CSW for interpersonal motivation and well-being are discussed.j asp_769 1749..1773
ASSOCIATED CHARACTERISTICS OF STALKING FOLLOWING THE TERMINATION OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
2000
This study investigated stalking by former romantic partners. It aimed to identify characteristics of relationships differentiating stalking from other post relationship experiences (harassment or no-harassment). A self-report questionnaire completed by 305 female undergraduates assessed experiences during and following termination of the relationship. Of the participants, 34.4% were classified as victims of stalking, 32.1% as having suffered post relationship harassment and 33.4% as having experienced no-harassment. Participants experiencing either stalking or harassment were most likely to have experienced controlling behaviour and denigration from their former partner during the relationship. Stalking was differentiated from harassment in that stalking victims were more likely to experience violence and sexual coercion during the relationship. These results are consistent with conceptualisations of stalking as a variant or extension of domestic violence.
Attachment, breakup strategies, and associated outcomes: The effects
People tend to use different strategies to dissolve their romantic relationships . The factors predicting selection of breakup strategies, and especially personality factors, have received relatively little attention. In five studies, using community and students samples, we revised the measure used to assess breakup strategy use, examined the outcomes of the revised strategies, and investigated the associations of these strategies with attachment dimensions. Attachment avoidance was associated with using less direct breakup strategies; whereas attachment anxiety was associated with using strategies meant to keep open the option of getting back together. In Studies 4 and 5, attachment-security primes were found to decrease these tendencies. Implications for relationship dissolution and attachment theory are discussed.