English Lit Review

Conflict in Romantic Relationships
Shelby Winstead

Abstract
Many things can influence and effect romantic relationships, such as: social networking, conflict style, degree of issues, and childhood development. In four different studies, factors such as those listed previously were viewed. Studies show that the amount of satisfaction one receives in a relationship is directly linked to the way issues within the relationship are handled. Early childhood development studies prove that having a more stable home life as an infant contributed to better conflict management in romantic relationships. Studies preformed on the effects of social networking on romantic relationships showed that feelings of jealousy and betrayal could be caused by use of social networking during romantic relationships.
Keywords: relationship, conflict, development, social, satisfaction

Conflict in Romantic Relationships In all relationships: family, friends, coworkers, significant others, conflict is nearly inevitable. This is especially true of those in romantic relationships. Being in such close proximity to a person, emotionally and physically, there is great opportunity for conflict to arise. The question to be asked is, “Why?” Why does conflict arise, and when it does, how can it be handled so that both partners remain emotionally stable and relatively happy? The answer could lie in the style of conflict management. Perhaps the influence of social media is hindering the relationship. However, social media is only one of the factors for consideration in conflict management.
Regardless of the issue, the manor in which it is resolved directly effects the overall satisfaction of the parties in the relationship. Dissatisfaction in romantic relationships has been found to be closely associated with having differences of opinion and negative conflict styles (Cramer, 1998). Attachment in childhood development also, especially in infancy, has a lasting impact on the way on the

References: Place references in alphabetical order by first author’s last name. Remember to put spaces between initials, italicize both the journal and volume and issue number, and indent the second and subsequent lines. Salvatore, J. E. (2011). Recovering from conflict in romantic relationships a developmental perspective. Psychological Science, 22(3), 376-383. Duncan, C. (2000). Relationship satisfaction and conflict style in romantic relationships. The Journal of Psychology, 134(3), 337-341. Cramer, D. (2002). Relationship satisfaction and conflict over minor and major issues in romantic relationships. The Journal of Psychology, 136(1), 75-81. Elphinston, R. A. & Noller. (2011). Time to face it! Facebook intrusion and the implications for romantic jealousy and relationship satisfaction. Behavior and social networking, 14(11), 631-635, 631-635.