Linking Theoretical Explanations for the Use of Marital Maintenance: Equity, Uncertainty, Attachment, and Reciprocity

Research provides support for four theoretical explanations for relationship maintenance: equity, uncertainty, attachment, and reciprocity. This study focused on the relationships among these theoretical explanations, as well as whether the concepts might be combined to provide a single explanation for why an individual enacts maintenance behavior. Survey data were collected from 179 married individuals. Path-modeling techniques revealed that, counter to predictions, uncertainty did not mediate the relationship between equity and maintenance enactment. Further, there were significant correlations among variables associated with all four theories. A series of multiple regression equations indicated that the four theoretical concepts predicted between 16% and 68% of the variance in maintenance enactment. Among the four theoretical explanations, reciprocity was the strongest and most consistent predictor