Attribution and adjustment to relationship termination

Although relationship dissolution is a fruitful context for field studies of attribution processes, only a handful of studies have been conducted and these have often produced contradictory results. This study analysed the written accounts of ex-partners from recently terminated premarital relationships. Type of attribution (self, other, interpersonal, external) was related to items representing the severity of the impact of the dissolution. Among other findings, evidence indicated that females whose relationships had been terminated longer were more likely to use interpersonal attributions and less likely to use other attributions when accounting for the break-up. It is argued that attribution following relationship termination should be viewed as an on-going process rather than as a singular event.