Measuring the sources and content of relational uncertainty

TLDR

Uncertainty reduction theory posits that uncertainty in interpersonal relationships arises from the self, partner, and the relationship, yet prior measures have focused mainly on partner issues. The study aims to create a measure that captures the full range of uncertainty—including self, partner, and relationship aspects—for ongoing relationships. The authors surveyed individuals in dating relationships to develop a measure assessing the sources and content of relational uncertainty. The resulting measure identified three self/partner uncertainty content issues—desire, evaluation, and goals—and four relationship uncertainty issues—behavioral norms, mutuality of feelings, current definition, and future—while factor analysis revealed that self and partner uncertainty are empirically distinct yet relationship items cross‑loaded on both factors, underscoring a nuanced conceptualization of relational uncertainty.

Abstract

Uncertainty reduction theory suggests that the self, the partner, and the relationship constitute three sources of uncertainty within interpersonal relationships; however, existing operationaliza‐tions of uncertainty focus predominately on partner issues. More recent extensions of the uncertainty construct to developed relationships call for a measure that both captures the range of uncertainty as originally conceptualized and attends to the uncertainty issues relevant in ongoing associations. We conducted a study of individuals in dating relationships to develop a measure that assesses the sources and content of relational uncertainty. Results identified three content issues for uncertainty focused on either the self or the partner: desire for the relationship, evaluation of the relationship, and goals for the relationship. Uncertainty about the relationship encompassed four content issues: behavioral norms for the relationship, mutuality of feelings between the partners, current definition of the relationship, and future of the relationship. A second‐order factor analysis demonstrated that whereas uncertainty about self versus partner were empirically distinct, items assessing relationship uncertainty cross‐loaded on both the self and partner uncertainty factors. The discussion highlights how a more nuanced conceptualization of relational uncertainty can inform future investigations.