Catherine A Surra
Biographic Data
| ID | 648984 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Catherine A Surra |
| GIVEN NAMES | Catherine A |
| FAMILY NAME | Surra |
| SIGNATURE | SURRA C A |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at Austin |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 221 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1985 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Pathways of Commitment to Wed: The Development and Dissolution of Romantic Relationships
The authors used changes in commitment to wed and reasons for these changes to classify couples into developmental pathways. Using data from a random sample of dating couples (N = 376), they found 4 distinct commitment processes: (a) dramatic, (b) conflict ridden, (c) socially involved, and (d) partner focused. Dramatic commitments were defined by relatively frequent fluctuations in commitment and negative attributions about their relationships. …
Differentiating declining commitment and breakup using commitment to wed
The relationship literature describes that declining commitment leads to breakup. The goal of this manuscript is to distinguish declining commitment and breakup to clarify this claim to better understand relationship processes. Data comes from a longitudinal study of heterosexual dating couples ( N = 180). Both individuals in the relationship independently graphed changes in commitment to wed their partner and reported reasons for each change mon…
A comparison of concurrent and retrospective trajectories of commitment to wed
How well do dating partners recall the development of commitment to wed and what factors modify recall? Motivations underlying recall suggest retrospections should demonstrate one of two patterns, developmental change or amplification. A random sample of 464 partners in heterosexual relationships graphed changes in commitment to wed monthly for 8 months and then graphed them from memory. Results supported the developmental change hypothesis; retr…
Effects of participation in a longitudinal study of dating
Participation in interviews has the potential to change beliefs about dating relationships. Changes in beliefs should vary as a function of how much participants think and talk about their relationships. Participants ( N = 464) were randomly selected for an interview study from households in a large Southwestern U.S. city. Participation should have positive effects on beliefs when thinking or talking is high and negative effects when thinking or …
A qualitative analysis of on-again/off-again romantic relationships: It's up and down, all around
Although relational research predominantly conceptualizes romantic relationships as either together or apart, some relationships break up and renew (i.e., on-again/off-again relationships). Partners' accounts of on-again/off-again relational experiences were qualitatively analyzed to explore both reasons for breakups and reasons for renewals. Themes were interpreted within an interdependence framework to explain why partners dissolved as well as …
The Treatment of Relationship Status in Research on Dating and Mate Selection
The relationship status of study participants (e.g., daters, cohabitors, marrieds, or unmarrieds) has implications for understanding dating and mate selection. Procedures used in studies may blur or ignore status distinctions. The authors examined methods used in 791 studies published from 1991 - 2001. Most commonly, status of participants is unspecified, and different statuses are collapsed for analysis. Status of participants is associated with…
Special Reviewers
Introduction: The many faces of context
This paper introduces a special issue of the journal Personal Relationships dealing with context and relationships. It reflects on the state of the literature and discusses five approaches to the interplay of context and relationships
Married Couples' Conflict Responses and Marital Quality
In order to further our understanding of conflict within a marital relationship, this study had two purposes: (i) to identify married couples' conflict response profiles, and (ii) to relate these conflict profiles to appraisals of marital quality. Spouses in 173 intact married couples completed a questionnaire that included measures of a sample of aggressive, withdrawing, and problem-solving responses occurring during conflict episodes, and indic…
Parental Divorce and Premarital Couples: Commitment and Other Relationship Characteristics
Parental divorce is thought to affect the romantic relationships of young adults, especially with respect to their certainty about the relationship and perceptions of problems in it. We examined these connections with a random sample of 464 coupled partners. Compared with women from intact families, women from divorced families reported less trust and satisfaction, but more ambivalence and conflict. For men, perceptions of relationships were cont…
The Reported Influence of Research Participation on Premarital Relationships
We examined the reported influence of participation in research on individuals in premarital relationships. Data were from a larger longitudinal study of 60 dating couples. We designed a questionnaire to evaluate the effects of participation. Responses to open-ended questions revealed 3 major sources of influence: attention to relationship evaluation, effects on relationship activities, and indirect or no influence. Closed-ended items yielded 2 d…
Role of Gender in Behavioral Interdependence and Relationship Outcomes for Premarital Couples
Commitment Processes in Accounts of the Development of Premarital Relationships
CATHERINE A. SURRA The University of Texas at Austin DEBRA K. HUGHES Miami University* We examined the subjective processes by which premarital partners (n = 113) become more or less committed to wed over time. Two commitment processes were identified. In relationshipdriven commitments, commitment evolved smoothly with few reversals. To explain changes in commitment, partners focused on their interaction and activities with one another and with t…
Similarity of outcomes, interdependence, and conflict in dating relationships
Dating couples (N = 59) participated in a longitudinal study of hypotheses derived from interdependence theory. Whether each partner's activity preferences and similarity of preferences, weighted by liking, would predict joint activity participation was examined. Preferences explained participation better than similarity, and own preferences predicted better than other's preferences. We hypothesized that conflict would increase with the strength …
Research and Theory on Mate Selection and Premarital Relationships in the 1980s
The Association between Reasons for Commitment and the Development and Outcome of Marital Relationships
This study examined the relationship between reasons given for changes in commitment, on the one hand, and the development of commitment and later marital satisfaction, on the other. Forty-one newlywed couples were interviewed to obtain graphs of changes in commitment during courtship and reasons for the changes, which were coded into fourteen categories. Four years later thirty-nine of the original participants completed a marital happiness ques…
Reasons for Changes in Commitment: Variations by Courtship Type
The aim of this study was to compare partners in different types of courtship on the reasons they gave for changes in commitment. In previous research four courtship types (accelerated, accelerated-arrested, intermediate and prolonged) were identified from differences in newly weds' graphs of changes in the chance of marriage during courtship. In this study respondents' explanations for each turning point in the graph were coded as: intrapersonal…
Economic and Social Factors in Mate Selection: An Ethnographic Analysis of an Agricultural Community
Karen Davis-Brown, Sonya Salamon, Catherine A. Surra, Economic and Social Factors in Mate Selection: An Ethnographic Analysis of an Agricultural Community, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 41-55
Hands and Hearts: A History of Courtship in America
Courtship types: Variations in interdependence between partners and social networks
Commitment Processes in Accounts of the Development of Premarital Relationships
CATHERINE A. SURRA The University of Texas at Austin DEBRA K. HUGHES Miami University* We examined the subjective processes by which premarital partners (n = 113) become more or less committed to wed over time. Two commitment processes were identified. In relationshipdriven commitments, commitment evolved smoothly with few reversals. To explain changes in commitment, partners focused on their interaction and activities with one another and with t…
Reasons for Changes in Commitment: Variations by Courtship Type
The aim of this study was to compare partners in different types of courtship on the reasons they gave for changes in commitment. In previous research four courtship types (accelerated, accelerated-arrested, intermediate and prolonged) were identified from differences in newly weds' graphs of changes in the chance of marriage during courtship. In this study respondents' explanations for each turning point in the graph were coded as: intrapersonal…
Research and Theory on Mate Selection and Premarital Relationships in the 1980s
The Association between Reasons for Commitment and the Development and Outcome of Marital Relationships
This study examined the relationship between reasons given for changes in commitment, on the one hand, and the development of commitment and later marital satisfaction, on the other. Forty-one newlywed couples were interviewed to obtain graphs of changes in commitment during courtship and reasons for the changes, which were coded into fourteen categories. Four years later thirty-nine of the original participants completed a marital happiness ques…
A qualitative analysis of on-again/off-again romantic relationships: It's up and down, all around
Although relational research predominantly conceptualizes romantic relationships as either together or apart, some relationships break up and renew (i.e., on-again/off-again relationships). Partners' accounts of on-again/off-again relational experiences were qualitatively analyzed to explore both reasons for breakups and reasons for renewals. Themes were interpreted within an interdependence framework to explain why partners dissolved as well as …
Parental Divorce and Premarital Couples: Commitment and Other Relationship Characteristics
Parental divorce is thought to affect the romantic relationships of young adults, especially with respect to their certainty about the relationship and perceptions of problems in it. We examined these connections with a random sample of 464 coupled partners. Compared with women from intact families, women from divorced families reported less trust and satisfaction, but more ambivalence and conflict. For men, perceptions of relationships were cont…
Pathways of Commitment to Wed: The Development and Dissolution of Romantic Relationships
The authors used changes in commitment to wed and reasons for these changes to classify couples into developmental pathways. Using data from a random sample of dating couples (N = 376), they found 4 distinct commitment processes: (a) dramatic, (b) conflict ridden, (c) socially involved, and (d) partner focused. Dramatic commitments were defined by relatively frequent fluctuations in commitment and negative attributions about their relationships. …
Married Couples' Conflict Responses and Marital Quality
In order to further our understanding of conflict within a marital relationship, this study had two purposes: (i) to identify married couples' conflict response profiles, and (ii) to relate these conflict profiles to appraisals of marital quality. Spouses in 173 intact married couples completed a questionnaire that included measures of a sample of aggressive, withdrawing, and problem-solving responses occurring during conflict episodes, and indic…
The Treatment of Relationship Status in Research on Dating and Mate Selection
The relationship status of study participants (e.g., daters, cohabitors, marrieds, or unmarrieds) has implications for understanding dating and mate selection. Procedures used in studies may blur or ignore status distinctions. The authors examined methods used in 791 studies published from 1991 - 2001. Most commonly, status of participants is unspecified, and different statuses are collapsed for analysis. Status of participants is associated with…
Differentiating declining commitment and breakup using commitment to wed
The relationship literature describes that declining commitment leads to breakup. The goal of this manuscript is to distinguish declining commitment and breakup to clarify this claim to better understand relationship processes. Data comes from a longitudinal study of heterosexual dating couples ( N = 180). Both individuals in the relationship independently graphed changes in commitment to wed their partner and reported reasons for each change mon…
The Reported Influence of Research Participation on Premarital Relationships
We examined the reported influence of participation in research on individuals in premarital relationships. Data were from a larger longitudinal study of 60 dating couples. We designed a questionnaire to evaluate the effects of participation. Responses to open-ended questions revealed 3 major sources of influence: attention to relationship evaluation, effects on relationship activities, and indirect or no influence. Closed-ended items yielded 2 d…
Role of Gender in Behavioral Interdependence and Relationship Outcomes for Premarital Couples
Similarity of outcomes, interdependence, and conflict in dating relationships
Dating couples (N = 59) participated in a longitudinal study of hypotheses derived from interdependence theory. Whether each partner's activity preferences and similarity of preferences, weighted by liking, would predict joint activity participation was examined. Preferences explained participation better than similarity, and own preferences predicted better than other's preferences. We hypothesized that conflict would increase with the strength …
Economic and Social Factors in Mate Selection: An Ethnographic Analysis of an Agricultural Community
Karen Davis-Brown, Sonya Salamon, Catherine A. Surra, Economic and Social Factors in Mate Selection: An Ethnographic Analysis of an Agricultural Community, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 41-55
Courtship types: Variations in interdependence between partners and social networks
Courtship types: Variations in interdependence between partners and social networks
Hands and Hearts: A History of Courtship in America
Reasons for Changes in Commitment: Variations by Courtship Type
The aim of this study was to compare partners in different types of courtship on the reasons they gave for changes in commitment. In previous research four courtship types (accelerated, accelerated-arrested, intermediate and prolonged) were identified from differences in newly weds' graphs of changes in the chance of marriage during courtship. In this study respondents' explanations for each turning point in the graph were coded as: intrapersonal…
Economic and Social Factors in Mate Selection: An Ethnographic Analysis of an Agricultural Community
Karen Davis-Brown, Sonya Salamon, Catherine A. Surra, Economic and Social Factors in Mate Selection: An Ethnographic Analysis of an Agricultural Community, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 41-55
The Association between Reasons for Commitment and the Development and Outcome of Marital Relationships
This study examined the relationship between reasons given for changes in commitment, on the one hand, and the development of commitment and later marital satisfaction, on the other. Forty-one newlywed couples were interviewed to obtain graphs of changes in commitment during courtship and reasons for the changes, which were coded into fourteen categories. Four years later thirty-nine of the original participants completed a marital happiness ques…
Similarity of outcomes, interdependence, and conflict in dating relationships
Dating couples (N = 59) participated in a longitudinal study of hypotheses derived from interdependence theory. Whether each partner's activity preferences and similarity of preferences, weighted by liking, would predict joint activity participation was examined. Preferences explained participation better than similarity, and own preferences predicted better than other's preferences. We hypothesized that conflict would increase with the strength …
Research and Theory on Mate Selection and Premarital Relationships in the 1980s
Commitment Processes in Accounts of the Development of Premarital Relationships
CATHERINE A. SURRA The University of Texas at Austin DEBRA K. HUGHES Miami University* We examined the subjective processes by which premarital partners (n = 113) become more or less committed to wed over time. Two commitment processes were identified. In relationshipdriven commitments, commitment evolved smoothly with few reversals. To explain changes in commitment, partners focused on their interaction and activities with one another and with t…
Role of Gender in Behavioral Interdependence and Relationship Outcomes for Premarital Couples
The Reported Influence of Research Participation on Premarital Relationships
We examined the reported influence of participation in research on individuals in premarital relationships. Data were from a larger longitudinal study of 60 dating couples. We designed a questionnaire to evaluate the effects of participation. Responses to open-ended questions revealed 3 major sources of influence: attention to relationship evaluation, effects on relationship activities, and indirect or no influence. Closed-ended items yielded 2 d…
Married Couples' Conflict Responses and Marital Quality
In order to further our understanding of conflict within a marital relationship, this study had two purposes: (i) to identify married couples' conflict response profiles, and (ii) to relate these conflict profiles to appraisals of marital quality. Spouses in 173 intact married couples completed a questionnaire that included measures of a sample of aggressive, withdrawing, and problem-solving responses occurring during conflict episodes, and indic…
Parental Divorce and Premarital Couples: Commitment and Other Relationship Characteristics
Parental divorce is thought to affect the romantic relationships of young adults, especially with respect to their certainty about the relationship and perceptions of problems in it. We examined these connections with a random sample of 464 coupled partners. Compared with women from intact families, women from divorced families reported less trust and satisfaction, but more ambivalence and conflict. For men, perceptions of relationships were cont…
Introduction: The many faces of context
This paper introduces a special issue of the journal Personal Relationships dealing with context and relationships. It reflects on the state of the literature and discusses five approaches to the interplay of context and relationships
Special Reviewers
The Treatment of Relationship Status in Research on Dating and Mate Selection
The relationship status of study participants (e.g., daters, cohabitors, marrieds, or unmarrieds) has implications for understanding dating and mate selection. Procedures used in studies may blur or ignore status distinctions. The authors examined methods used in 791 studies published from 1991 - 2001. Most commonly, status of participants is unspecified, and different statuses are collapsed for analysis. Status of participants is associated with…
Effects of participation in a longitudinal study of dating
Participation in interviews has the potential to change beliefs about dating relationships. Changes in beliefs should vary as a function of how much participants think and talk about their relationships. Participants ( N = 464) were randomly selected for an interview study from households in a large Southwestern U.S. city. Participation should have positive effects on beliefs when thinking or talking is high and negative effects when thinking or …
A qualitative analysis of on-again/off-again romantic relationships: It's up and down, all around
Although relational research predominantly conceptualizes romantic relationships as either together or apart, some relationships break up and renew (i.e., on-again/off-again relationships). Partners' accounts of on-again/off-again relational experiences were qualitatively analyzed to explore both reasons for breakups and reasons for renewals. Themes were interpreted within an interdependence framework to explain why partners dissolved as well as …
A comparison of concurrent and retrospective trajectories of commitment to wed
How well do dating partners recall the development of commitment to wed and what factors modify recall? Motivations underlying recall suggest retrospections should demonstrate one of two patterns, developmental change or amplification. A random sample of 464 partners in heterosexual relationships graphed changes in commitment to wed monthly for 8 months and then graphed them from memory. Results supported the developmental change hypothesis; retr…
Differentiating declining commitment and breakup using commitment to wed
The relationship literature describes that declining commitment leads to breakup. The goal of this manuscript is to distinguish declining commitment and breakup to clarify this claim to better understand relationship processes. Data comes from a longitudinal study of heterosexual dating couples ( N = 180). Both individuals in the relationship independently graphed changes in commitment to wed their partner and reported reasons for each change mon…
Pathways of Commitment to Wed: The Development and Dissolution of Romantic Relationships
The authors used changes in commitment to wed and reasons for these changes to classify couples into developmental pathways. Using data from a random sample of dating couples (N = 376), they found 4 distinct commitment processes: (a) dramatic, (b) conflict ridden, (c) socially involved, and (d) partner focused. Dramatic commitments were defined by relatively frequent fluctuations in commitment and negative attributions about their relationships. …
Psychology (18 works) · Social Psychology (17 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (15 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Developmental psychology (13 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (11 works) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (7 works) · Biology (4 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Courtship (4 works)