Relationship Maintenance Knowledge and Self‐Efficacy Among Single Young Adults Desiring a Committed Romantic Relationship

ABSTRACT Some people are single despite desiring a committed romantic relationship. Past research has revealed relationship maintenance strategies—thoughts and behaviors that couple members enact to fuel overall relationship satisfaction and commitment—associated with relationship stability. From two independent samples totaling 2059 single young adults desiring a committed relationship, we assessed whether individuals know that given maintenance strategies are beneficial to long‐term relationship stability (maintenance response‐efficacy) and whether they feel they can implement these strategies in their relationships (maintenance self‐efficacy). We used the newly developed PRIME (Perceptions of Relationship Maintenance Efficacy) to measure these concepts and test several preregistered hypothesized associations. Results revealed that participants, on average, were knowledgeable about the importance of and felt efficacious regarding enacting most strategies. Both maintenance response‐efficacy and self‐efficacy were associated with the duration of recent past romances when scores were combined, but only self‐efficacy was significant when examined independently. These findings highlight the importance of assessing relationship maintenance efficacy among singles seeking a committed romantic relationship. PRIME is also the first relationship maintenance self‐report measure that does not require individuals to be in a relationship for assessment.