9.2.9

Evaluation of Relationship Breakdown

Test yourself

Support of Duck’s Phase Model of Relationship Breakdown

Duck’s (2007) findings can be applied to and benefit real-life relationships.

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Real-life applications

  • The model has useful real-life applications because it helps to identify and understand the stages of relationship breakdown and allows for suggestions on ways it can be reversed.
  • The model is especially useful because it recognises that different repair strategies are more effective at particular points in the breakdown than at others.
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Duck (1994) recommendations

  • For example, Duck (1994) recommends that people in the intra-psychic phase could be encouraged to focus their thoughts on the positive aspects of their partner.
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Counselling

  • As a feature of the dyadic phase is communication, any attempts to improve this and perhaps improve wider social skills could help to foster greater stability in the relationship.
  • These insights can be used in relationships counselling (a real-life application).

Criticisms of Duck’s Phase Model of Relationship Breakdown

The phase model is thought to be an incomplete and oversimplified explanation.

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Rollie and Duck (2006)

  • Rollie and Duck (2006) modified the original model by adding a fifth stage after grave-dressing - the resurrection phase.
  • This is where ex-partners turn their attention to future relationships using experience gained from their recently ended one.
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Rollie and Duck (2006) - non-linear model

  • They argue that progression from one phase to the next is not inevitable and its possible to return to an earlier phase in the process at any point.
  • This new model emphasises the processes that happen in the relationship breakdown instead of the linear movement from one phase to another.
  • These modifications to the original model overcome some of its weaknesses.
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Methodological issues

  • Most of the research is retrospective. That is, participants generally give their experiences of the breakdown process sometime after the relationship has ended.
  • This means that what they can recall might not always be accurate or reliable.
  • It is very difficult to study the early phases of relationship breakdown, particularly the point at which problems first appear. Researchers are reluctant to study these early stages for fear of speeding up a break-up that could have been saved.
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Limitations to application

  • The model is less successful as an explanation of why breakdowns happen (rather than how).
  • It is a better description than an explanation.
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Cultural bias

  • The model also suffers from cultural bias because the research underpinning it is based on the experience of relationships in Western cultures, especially in the USA.
  • The very concept of a romantic relationship differs between cultures. So it is very unlikely that the process of relationship breakdown is identical across different cultures.
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Moghaddam et al (1993)

  • According to Moghaddam et al (1993), relationships in individualistic cultures are generally voluntary and frequently come to an end via divorce or separation.
  • Relationships in collectivist cultures are more likely to be obligatory, less easy to end, involve the wider family, and, in some cases, are arranged with little involvement of the partners.

Jump to other topics

1Social Influence

2Memory

3Attachment

4Psychopathology

5Approaches in Psychology

6Biopsychology

7Research Methods

8Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

9Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

11Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

12Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

13Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

14Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

15Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

16Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

17Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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