Effects of social support on recovery after ending a romantic relationship <Summaries of the Doctoral Theses>

What are the necessary conditions for recovery after a breakup of a romantic relationship? Even though problems in romantic relationships are common and ordinary happenings, they can cause negative psychological reactions. Previous studies that have investigated the process of recovery from the breakup of romantic relationships have used different definitions of a breakup. Moreover, they did not clearly describe the process of recovery. Here, recovery from a breakup is clearly defined based on reviews of previous studies of breakups, as well as on theories of object loss. Past studies have suggested that the recovery from a breakup of a romantic relationship is related to the quality of the relationship, such as the dating period and the degree of satisfaction with the relationship. There have only been few empirical studies on other variables that promote the recovery process. For example, gender differences have been reported in the recovery process from a breakup, such as that evaluations about a breakup by women are more positive than those by men. It was hypothesized that this is because women maintain more social support sources before a breakup than men, which has a positive influence on the recovery process after the breakup. Therefore, in this study the effect of social support before the breakup of a romantic relationship on recovery after the breakup in college students was investigated. Results of the study supported the above hypothesis. It is concluded that it is important to have various social support sources before a breakup for better recovery after the breakup