The desire for commitment might have important consequences on attitudes and decisions related to romantic relationships, according to new research published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
“Anecdotally, I’ve heard friends talking about how dating is tiring and effortful. Marriage rates seem to be declining and there seems to be a growing aversion towards being in a relationship across the world,” said study author Kenneth Tan, an assistant professor of psychology at Singapore Management University.
“With single people becoming a larger demographic, I became interested in understanding the extent to which individuals are receptive towards relationships in the current day and age.”
In two questionnaire-based studies, Tan and his colleagues found that the desire for commitment influenced how people felt about their relationships.
A survey of 197 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers currently involved in a romantic relationship found that individuals who agreed with statements such as “The idea of a long-term committed romantic relationship appeals to me” and “Maintaining a committed romantic relationship is important to me” were most certain about the future stability of their relationship, especially if they perceived their partners to be also highly committed.
A follow-up with 275 partnered undergraduates found that individuals who expressed a greater desire for commitment were also more likely to agree with statements such as “I feel that I need my partner a great deal” and tended to report having fewer thoughts about breaking up with their partner.
But the researchers were also interested in how one’s desire for commitment was related to attraction among people not currently involved in a romantic relationship. To that end, they had 187 single undergraduates view dating profiles and indicate how interested they were in the potential partners.
The dating profiles included a picture and a short biography, which described the person as either highly or moderately responsive to their partners’ needs and either interested in a short-term or a long-term relationship. The researchers found that single individuals who more strongly desired commitment tended to be more interested in partners who expressed interest in having a long-term relationship, regardless of the potential mate’s responsiveness.
“Most individuals still desire being in a committed relationship. Even those who scored lower on average were not low in terms of absolute value. Importantly, what we see is that individuals who have high commitment desirability strategically look for current and potential partners who are also similar in terms of desire to ensure a higher probability of having a successful and long-lasting relationship in the future,” Tan told PsyPost.
“We thought it was plausible that individuals low in commitment desirability might ironically prefer partners who match their low commitment levels. Our results suggest this might not be the case. Individuals low in commitment desirability were simply less discriminating about their choice of partners.”
But there is still much to learn about why some people have a greater desire for commitment than others.
“The current research did not address perceptions of threat associated with committed relationships, nor how individuals are sometimes motivated to avoid the pitfalls of being in a committed relationship, where such involvements might be construed as painful or unfulfilling (i.e. fear of commitment),” Tan explained.
“In terms of future questions, we would like to examine this fear component. Moreover, there are likely multiple reasons underlying whether a person may or may not desire commitment and our future research is also interested in examining antecedents to commitment desirability.”
The study, “Seeking and Ensuring Interdependence: Desiring Commitment and the Strategic Initiation and Maintenance of Close Relationships“, was authored by Kenneth Tan, Christopher R. Agnew, and Benjamin W. Hadden.
