Modeling Intimacy and Commitment in Emerging Adulthood (2015)

Undergraduate: Danielle Jameison

Faculty Advisor: Don Baucom
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Intimacy and commitment are constructs essential to a successful romantic relationship, but for emerging adults navigating the world of dating, it is not always clear how these two elements interact. Data from a self-report survey of 162 undergraduate students were used to better understand how intimacy and commitment are related to one another as a function of gender and perceived social power. Results showed that intimacy predicted commitment, but differentially for men and women based on their levels of social power. For men, increased social power was associated with a decreased effect of intimacy on commitment. Among men with low social power, intimacy most strongly predicted commitment, whereas for men with high levels of social power, intimacy ceased to be associated with commitment at all. The opposite effect was found in women, where for women with greater social power, intimacy much more strongly predicted commitment than it did among women with little power. These findings suggest that men and women may both be using social power to achieve their goals in romantic relationships, but that, consistent with evolutionary theory, men ultimately desire intimacy without commitment and women, intimacy with commitment.