IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v3y2014i1p24-43d32551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coping with Break-Ups: Rebound Relationships and Gender Socialization

Author

Listed:
  • Cassie Shimek

    (Department of Communication Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA)

  • Richard Bello

    (Department of Communication Studies, Sam Houston State University, Box 2299, Huntsville, TX 77341, USA)

Abstract

When serious romantic relationships are terminated, partners are faced with convoluted and complex challenges of detachment from their previous partner, negative feelings about the overall situation, and the need to move forward in life. When faced with this relational upheaval, some individuals employ and find relief in superficial or noncommittal rebound relationships, which act as a means for coping with the loss of the previous relationship and the severed emotional attachment to an ex-partner, but which are under studied by empirical researchers. In a study of 201 participants, men were predicted and found to be more likely to enter rebound relationships in the aftermath of a relational termination based on lower levels of social support, more emotional attachment to an ex-partner, and displaying the ludus (or game playing) love style. In addition to the measures of these variables, gender socialization and parental investment theory provide further support for the study’s claims. In sum, rebound relationships were employed by men as a distraction from their feelings of emotional attachment for their ex-partner, but also as a source of support and due to inherent ludic characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Cassie Shimek & Richard Bello, 2014. "Coping with Break-Ups: Rebound Relationships and Gender Socialization," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:3:y:2014:i:1:p:24-43:d:32551
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/1/24/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/3/1/24/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:3:y:2014:i:1:p:24-43:d:32551. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.