that Commitment to a relationship is affected by the quality of one's alternatives to that partnership, but one must be aware of those alternatives in order for them to be influential. Floyd and Wasner (1994) found that perceptions of alternatives involved separating the field of desirable alternatives from the field of available alternatives.
Kirkpatrick and Davis (1994) found a need to integrate gender role considerations and relationship dynamics and processes into theorizing on adult attachment. Drigotas and Rusbult (1992) found that need satisfaction dependence measures identify important needs in a relationship and compare satisfaction of those needs in the current relationship to satisfaction in alternative relationships. Simpson (1990) found that for both men and women, the secure attachment style was associated with greater relationship interdependence, commitment, trust, and satisfaction than were the anxious or avoidant attachment styles. Hedrick, et al. (1988) found that love attitudes were related to satisfaction, but several other measures (e.g., commitment, investment, self-esteem, and self-disclosure) were also important correlates of satisfaction. Adams (1997) found that an attraction component based on devotion, satisfaction, and love, a moral normative component based on a sense of personal responsibility for maintaining the marriage and on the belief that marriage is an important social and religious institution, and a constraining component based on fear of the social, financial, and emotional costs of relationship termination. Gonzaga, et al. (2001) found that the experience of love correlates with approach-related states (desire, sympathy).
A convenience sample consisting of 12 females and 12 males was selected to participate in the administration of the instrument developed to measure a person's readiness for commitment. The ages of the members of the sample ranged from 25 through 34. All members o...