Maintaining Relationships: The Role of Implicit Relationship Theories and Partner Fit

Implicit relationship beliefs provide the basis for how people understand, predict, and sustain their relationships, and such beliefs may help explain why some individuals are more motivated to engage in relationship maintenance than others. Extending past research on relationship maintenance, we investigated the role of growth and destiny relationship beliefs and partner fit in predicting the use of maintenance behaviors. Data collected from 187 romantically involved individuals revealed that a growth belief was positively associated with the use of positivity, assurances, and tasks but a destiny belief was only associated with the use of networks. The perceived degree to which one’s partner was seen as an ideal fit moderated the effects on the use of positivity, assurances, and tasks.