Date of Award

2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Pask, Elizabeth B.

Subject Headings

Forgiveness, Attachment Styles, Equity, Transgression Severity

Abstract

The way that individuals adapt to stress in their romantic relationships plays a major role in determining how satisfied they are in those relationships. This study used the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model as a framework to examine how individuals adapt to the stressful event of a relational transgression in their romantic relationships. This study specifically looked at the effect of individuals' attachment dimensions and the equity of their relationships as factors that influenced how they used forgiveness strategies after a relational transgression occurred. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant negative relationship between the explicit strategy and dismissiveness, a significant positive relationship between the minimizing strategy and preoccupation, a significant positive relationship between the non-verbal strategy and preoccupation, a significant negative relationship between the non-verbal strategy and fear of intimacy, and a significant negative relationship between the conditional strategy and security/confidence and fear of intimacy. The results also revealed that there were significant group differences between equity groups and three of the five forgiveness strategies. The results also showed that there were significant relationships between transgression severity and four of the five forgiveness strategies. Finally, the results revealed that there was a significant relationship between relational satisfaction and three of the five forgiveness strategies

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