PLEDGER, LINDA MALONE; PHD

                         THE LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COL., 1990

                         SPEECH COMMUNICATION (0459)
 

                         Relationship dissolution is a complex process that involves more than the act of termination. The process
                         affects and is affected by an individual's communication with members of the social network. The
                         attributions made by the individual to account for the dissolution constitute an attempt at failure
                         management. This study was undertaken to determine how the strategies used to manage the failure
                         event of divorce vary according to social network groups, gender, and expectation of approval. One
                         hundred eleven divorced individuals completed questionnaires soliciting recollection of accounts made
                         to family, friends, and acquaintances regarding their divorce. Findings include (1) excuses were used
                         more often than other types of accounts (this supports earlier research in accounting), (2) excuses were
                         used slightly more often with family, justifications substantially more often with friends, and silence and
                         interactive accounts substantially more often with acquaintances, (3) there were no gender differences in
                         type of account used or in the number of accounts used, (4) males selected males with whom to interact,
                         and females selected females, (5) females initiated the divorce (as reported by both sexes), (6) families
                         and friends were offered higher numbers of accounts than acquaintances. Content analysis revealed five
                         types of excuses: abuse, unfaithfulness, refusal to change or get help, personality flaws and abrupt
                         termination by other. T-tests revealed that females predominantly used the first three types and males
                         predominantly used the last two. This study has examined reports of the actual accounts communicated
                         to members of different social networks regarding divorce and has revealed differences with respect to
                         these social networks. It has begun the task of developing a typology of interpersonal relationship failure
                         management strategies and has established a connection between type of communication strategy
                         selected and target audience.

Social Systems Simulation Group P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA  92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX  (619) 660-1603