Relationship Talk in Cyclical and Non-Cyclical Relationships: Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management

This study employed the Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM) to understand romantic partners' relationship talk in couples that vary in relational uncertainty: cyclical (on-again/off-again) and non-cyclical. Despite differing on most individual TMIM variables, the model operated similarly for both relationship types. Negative emotions about discrepancies in desired relationship information were associated with less efficacy, and efficacy and outcome expectancies were linked with relationship talk. We additionally included motivated ambiguity regarding relationship status in the model, which played a stronger role for non-cyclical partners. Findings generally suggested that differences by relationship type occurred in the initial phases of the model.