Duck's Phase Model of Relationship Breakdown

• Duck's model


  an explanation of stages people go though when their relationship isn't working

  once 1 partner is dissatisfied - there are 4 stages in process, each with a different focus: intra-psychic, dyadic, social and grave dressing.
• Intra-psychic


  partner weighs up pros and cons of relationship & evaluate these against the alternatives.

  individuals may express their discontentment through a diary entry.

  begin to make plans for future.

  'I can't stand this anymore
• Dyadic


  individuals confront their partner and discuss their feelings and future of relationship.

  couples becomes aware of forces that bind them together e.g. children and costs that would be incurred if they broke up.

  2 possible outcomes - determination to continue breaking up or a desire to repair it.

  the dissatisfied partner concludes 'I mean it
• Social

  break up is made public - partners will seek support

  mutual friends are expected to choose a side

  gossip is traded and encouraged

  some friends provide reassurance whilst others will be judgemental and place blame on one partner or other

  'It's now inevitable
• Grave Dressing


  once relationship is dead, it's time to bury it

  individuals may strategically reinterpret view of their partner

  each partner must present themselves to others as being trustworthy and loyal - key attributes to attract a new partner

  individuals share a favourable story about breakup which presents them in a positive light and other partner in a bad light.

  gossip plays an important role

  'Time to get a new life
• Weakness - original phase model outlined by Rollie and Duck is incomplete

  Rollie and Duck states the process of breakdown of a relationship doesn't stop after grave-dressing.

  there's a further step by which we move on to a new relationship, learning from previous one, trying not to do same things again.

  named the 'resurrection phase'

  ex-partners turn their attention to future relationships using experience gained from previous relationships.

  Rollie and Duck make it clear progression from one phase to the next isn't inevitable and partners may return to an earlier phase.

  Weakness - suggests Duck's model is a limited explanation as it doesn't account for dynamic nature of breakups with their uncertainty and complexity. Therefore, overall power of Duck's model is reduced.
• Weakness - methodological issues within Duck's phase model

  most research is retrospective.

  ppts generally give their experiences of breakdown process, using interviews or questionnaires sometime after relationship has ended.

  issue because giving feedback after breakup means what they recall may be inaccurate or unreliable.

  some facts may be distorted or changed, or forgotten altogether.

  Weakness - model doesn't necessarily describe how break-up happens IRL, weakening model's ability to present an accurate picture of relationship breakdown. Therefore validity and reliability of model is reduced.
• Weakness - Duck's model is culturally biased

  Moghaddam et al suggests relationships in individualist cultures are mostly voluntary and end quite often.

  However relationships in collectivist cultures are more frequently less easy to end, involve wider family and some cases are arranged with little involvement of partners.

  Weakness - model assumes the breakup process is universal, which isn't the case. Therefore the model lacks validity.
• Strength - Duck's model has useful applications

  model helps us to understand stages of relationship breakdown but also ways of reversing it.

  couples may be advised to used different strategies depending on phase they're currently in.

  for a person in intra-psychic phase it many be more useful to shift their attention to positive aspects of partner's personality.

  Strength - shows Duck's model can be used successfully to help couples contemplating break-up to improve their relationships.