The breakup of relationships is a common experience, especially in the teenage years when individuals are usually experimenting with relationships. In those years we find for ourselves the styles and kinds of people with whom we are most comfortable forming enduring relationships. In such an experimental phase, however, it is natural enough that some relationships are enduring but that some teach us lessons about what should be avoided. Breakdown of relationships is therefore a topic of some considerable importance for everyone and is of interest not only to researchers but also to people living their lives.
One thing we are learning is that breakdown of relationships is not merely an event but an extended process with several phases and components. For example, it is too simple to see it as all about the loss of feelings like love or attraction. Of course, when people fall out of love then by definition their affection for each other decreases, but that is not all that happens. Although emotions are assumed to be the basis of voluntary relationships, those forms of relationships also have other dimensions that need to change when it comes to the undoing of a relationship.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
