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30 - Commitment Processes in Close Relationships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2026

By
Christopher R. Agnew  and
Katie N. Adams
Edited by
Anita L. Vangelisti ,
Daniel Perlman  and
Susan Sprecher
Anita L. Vangelisti
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Austin
Daniel Perlman
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Susan Sprecher
Affiliation:
Illinois State University
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Summary

As society continues to change, so, too, has the nature of social connections between people. This chapter, however, focuses on one relationship immutable: that people often maintain committed involvements with particular others. We begin by situating and defining relationship commitment within a modern social context. We review historical and current theoretical models of commitment, including coverage of hypothesized antecedents, emphasizing empirical findings on precursors of commitment since the last edition of the Handbook. We then turn to reviewing research on hypothesized consequences of commitment, again emphasizing empirical findings since the last edition. Recent research considering racial, ethnic, and cultural variations in commitment is also reviewed. We conclude the chapter by offering possible future directions for commitment research.

Keywords

commitmenttheories of commitmentinvestment model of commitment processesantecedents of commitmentconsequences of commitment

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The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships , pp. 634 - 651
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2026

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