Men held less negative attitudes than women toward former romantic partners in samples of heterosexual respondents

Grüning, David J., Anna-Lena Loose, and Joachim I. Krueger. 2021. “Hard Feelings: Predicting Attitudes Toward Former Romantic Partners.” PsyArXiv. December 29. doi:10.31234/osf.io/t73a8

Abstract: Most research on relationship quality addresses ongoing involvements. Research on past relationships is rare. As a first step, Athenstaedt and colleagues (2020) explored attitudes toward former romantic partners in an Austrian sample of heterosexual respondents. They found that men held less negative attitudes than women. In two studies conducted in Germany and the USA, we replicate this gender difference and explore the role of three psychological predictors. Like Athenstaedt et al., we find that the degree of perceived social support before the breakup and continued friendly relations after the breakup have a positive association with ex-partner attitude. Critically, we introduce and corroborate the hypothesis that regret over having started the relationship has a negative association. However, regret also fails to mediate the association between gender and ex-partner attitude. We discuss the practical implications of these findings and note directions for future research.