Ambivalence in Romantic and Sexual Relationships
Most people experience ambivalence in their relationships — feeling both positive and negative emotions toward their partner or sex life at the same time. But what does ambivalence actually consist of? And how does it shape relationship functioning?
Building on our published work on ambivalence in romantic relationships and theories such as the ABC Model of Ambivalence, we are conducting a multi-part research program examining both relational ambivalence and sexual ambivalence.
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In the first phase, participants describe in their own words the good and bad, satisfying and unsatisfying aspects of their relationship and sex life. Using a theory-guided thematic approach, we identify core relational domains (e.g., partner personality, intimacy, sexual communication, frequency) and distinguish between positive and negative components within each domain.
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In a second study, we examine whether these identified themes predict self-reported ambivalence and whether individuals who strongly endorse these mixed evaluations also report lower sexual and relational quality.
This hybrid qualitative–quantitative approach allows us to move beyond global scale measures and better understand what people mean when they say their relationship or sex life feels “complicated.”
Across studies, this line of work aims to clarify the structure, meaning, and consequences of ambivalence in intimate relationships.