PRESCRIPTIVE SUPPORT AND COMMITMENT PROCESSES IN CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS

Existing research on close relationships has not determined whether co mmitment is strengthened by prescriptive support for a relationship. T he present research examines both (1) personal prescription, based on the personal belief that out to persist in a relationship, and (2) soc ial prescription, based on the that friends or family members would li ke one to persist. In a computer-assisted telephone interview we exami ned associations of commitment with both forms of prescriptive support and traditional investment-model variables: satisfaction level, alter native quality, and investment size. All five predictors exhibited sig nificant simple associations with commitment level. Regression analyse s revealed that social prescription accounted for unique variance in c ommitment beyond satisfaction, alternatives, and investments; personal prescription did not account for unique variance in commitment.