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Young adults' romantic relationships are often unstable, commonly including breakup - reconcile patterns. From the developmental perspective of emerging adulthood exploration, such relationship "churning" is expected; however, minor conflicts are more common in churning relationships. Using data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (N = 792), the authors tested whether relationship churning is associated with more serious conflict, such as physical violence and verbal abuse. Couples who were stably broken up (breakup only-no reconciliation) were similar to those who were stably together in their conflict experiences. In contrast, churners (i.e., those involved in on/off relationships) were twice as likely as those who were stably together or stably broken up to report physical violence and half again as likely to report the presence of verbal abuse in their relationships; this association between churning and conflict held net of a host of demographic, personal, and relationship characteristics. These findings have implications for our better understanding of unhealthy relationship behaviors.
Key Words: relationship processes/dissolution, violence, youth/emergent adulthood.
Young adults' romantic relationships are quite fluid and often unstable, with more than four in 10 young adults experiencing both a breakup and reconciliation in their present or most recent relationship (Dailey, Pfiester, Jin, Beck, & Clark, 2009; Halpern-Meekin, Manning, Giordano, & Longmore, 2012). From the developmental perspective of emerging adulthood, this kind of "churning" in relationships would be expected, because these years are meant to be spent exploring one's identity and intimate relationships (Arnett, 2000, 2007a, 2007b).
In this study, we asked whether relationship churning is associated with physical violence and verbal abuse. We examined this potential association because there are indications that minor conflicts, such as arguing, are more common in relationships characterized by this churning pattern (Dailey, Pfiester, et al., 2009; Dailey, Rossetto, Pfiester, & Surra, 2009; Halpern-Meekin et al., 2012). Whether more serious forms of conflict, however - namely, physical and verbal abuse - are also related to the churning pattern remains unclear. We did not posit a particular causal relationship between churning and abuse; instead, we argued that both arise as part of a package of dynamics centered on an inability to properly manage conflict and prevent escalation in the context of a relationship with perceived benefits, such as bonds formed through intimate self-disclosure.