DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A MEASURE OF FEAR OF COMMITMENT
This study developed and evaluated an instrument intended to measure the readiness of persons to commit to other in serious intimate relationships. The administration of the instrument measured responses as controlled for respondent age and respondent gender. The results indicate that women under the age of 30 appear to be more ready for commitment than either men or women 30 and older. Women 30 and older tend to be more indifferent to commitment than do either men or women under 30.
The readiness of people for commitment has been studied from a variety of perspectives (Kiecolt-Glaser, Bane, Glaser, & Malarkey, 2003). There appear to be as many explanations as to why a person is or is not ready to commit to another in a serious intimate relationship, as there are studies on the issue (Fehr, 1999).
This study sought to develop an instrument to assess a person's readiness for commitment in a serious intimate relationship. An instrument was developed on the basis of the findings of research reported in the literature.
Serling and Betz (1990) found that Fear of commitment was related to both state and trait anxiety and to self-esteem and was also found to be significantly higher in undecided vs. decided college students.
Gagne, et al. (2003) found that dating students anticipating the transition from university to work deliberated about increasing their commitment or thought about how to maintain their relationships after graduation; and that this mindset manipulation interacted with subsequent ratings of relationship closeness and perceived partner commitment to predict relationship status six months later.
Arriaga (2001) found that individuals who exhibited greater fluctuation in their repeated satisfaction ratings were more likely to be in relationships that eventually ended, even after controlling for overall level of satisfaction. Miller (1997) found...