THE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF MARITAL COMMITMENT - AN INTEGRATIVE ANALYSIS

Although theoretical statements regarding the conceptualization of mar ital commitment abound in the literature, no research has attempted to compare these conceptualizations empirically. Six studies involving 1 ,787 participants explored the conceptual structure of marital commitm ent through a variety of empirical methods. Results suggested the exis tence of 3 primary dimensions of marital commitment: an attraction com ponent based on devotion, satisfaction, and love, a moral-normative co mponent based on a sense of personal responsibility for maintaining th e marriage and on the belief that marriage is an important social and religious institution, and a constraining component based on fear of t he social, financial, and emotional costs of relationship termination. These factors most strongly resemble the three dimensions proposed by M. P. Johnson (1991) but also appear to represent the general feature s of interpersonal commitment described in most theoretical treatments of the construct and correspond well with couples' personal accounts of what it feels like to be in a committed relationship.