Rusbult’s Investment Model

• This model attempts to identify the features that influence relationship commitment, which refers to the likelihood that an individual will persist with their current relationship
• The satisfaction level is when positive vs negative emotions are experienced and are affected by whether the other person fulfils the individuals most important needs
• High levels of satisfaction increases the likelihood of commitment to the relationship
• The quality of alternatives stage is whether or not a person’s needs will be met by someone else. However, if alternatives aren’t present an individual may persist with a relationship because of a lack of better options
• If there’s a low quality of alternatives to the relationship, an individual is more likely to commit to that relationship
• The investment size stage is a measurement of all the resources that are attached to the relationship. This includes intrinsic investments, which are things an individual directly puts into a relationship like money and self disclosures, and extrinsic investments, which are resources that have been accumulated by both partners since the relationship began like children and shared memories
• Within the investment size stage, the intrinsic and extrinsic investments are crucial in commitment because they may diminish in value or be lost completely if the relationship were to end. Investment size contributes towards the stability of a relationship and therefore, high levels of investment encourage an individual to commit to a relationship
• Le and Agnew (2003) conducted a meta-analysis and reviewed 52 studies from the 1970s to 1999, which included 11,000 participants from 5 countries. They found that satisfaction, quality of alternatives and investment size predicted relationship commitment across all the studies. these outcomes were true for both men and women, across all cultures and for homosexuals as well as heterosexual couples
• Lin and Rusbult (1995) found that although findings were inconsistent, females generally reported higher satisfaction levels, poorer scores for quality of alternative, greater investments and stronger overall commitment. This suggests gender differences may exist, with females demonstrating greater dependence and stronger commitment than males