A Relative Commitment Approach to Understanding Power in Romantic Relationships

In some romantic relationships, one partner has more power over joint decisions than the other. This study examines relative commitment as a key predictor of which partner has more power and developed a model based on classic interdependence theory. A survey was conducted (N = 324) using new measures of the key variables to test the model. When desire for control was high, relative commitment predicted self-perceived power, which predicted major...