Article Review 4: Gender, Love Schemas, and Reactions to Romantic Break-Ups
Sade McFadden
SUNY Empire State College
PSYC-3020-01 Social Psychology
Joshua Cohen
August 4, 2024
Article Review 4: Gender, Love Schemas, and Reactions to Romantic Break-Ups
The journal article titled "Gender, Love Schemas, and Reactions to Romantic Break-Ups" by
Patricia Choo, Timothy Levine, and Elaine Hatfield from the University of Hawaii investigates how men
and women deal with the end of romantic relationships. The study was interested in finding out if
gender and a person's view of love, called a love schema, play a role in how they feel and what they do
to cope when a romance falls apart. A love schema is like a personal map in someone's head that shows
what they think love should look like and how they believe they and their partner should act in a
romantic relationship. It is shaped by a person's past experiences and can affect how they feel and what
they do when their relationship ends.
The researchers asked 250 people, both men and women, who had gone through a break-up
about their feelings and what they did to get through it. They found some differences between men and
women, like men not feeling as happy or relieved after a break-up as women do. Both genders blamed
themselves equally for the break-up, but women were more likely to blame their partners. Men were
more into keeping busy with work or sports to deal with it, while women might talk more about their
feelings with friends.
The Choo et al. study also looked at different love schemas, like being secure, clingy, or not
interested in love, and how these affect reactions to break-ups. People who are secure in love seemed
to manage break-ups better, while those who are clingy had a harder time. Choo et al. shows that how
we see love and relationships can really shape how we feel and act when things do not work out.
The Rationale
Choo et al. research on "Gender, Love Schemas, and Reactions to Romantic Break-Ups" was to
explore the differences in emotional reactions and coping strategies following romantic break-ups based
on gender and love schemas. Previous literature suggested that men and women might differ in their
emotional responses and coping mechanisms, and that these differences could be influenced by
individual love schemas—cognitive models of what to expect in love relationships. The study aimed to
evaluate these theories by trial and error.
Hypothesis
Choo et al. did not necessarily hypothesize anything, rather sought to find the answer to four
significant questions; do men and women experience different emotions after a romantic break-up, do
men and women use different strategies to cope with the end of a romantic relationship, do people with
different love schemas feel different emotions after a break-up, do people with different love schemas
use similar or different strategies to cope with a break-up?
The Study
The study included 250 participants, consisting of 77 men and 173 women from the University
of Hawaii. The average age of participants was 23.14 years, with a standard deviation of 5.33. The
sample was diverse in ethnicity, including African-, Chinese-, European-, Filipino-, Hawaiian, Japanese-,
Korean-, and Other-American backgrounds.
Participants completed questionnaires in small groups. The survey began with demographic
questions about gender, age, and ethnic background. The participants were then asked about their
experiences with romantic break-ups, including the nature of their previous relationship, who wanted
the break-up, and how long ago it occurred. Participants completed the Love Schema Scale to assess
their love schemas and reported their emotional reactions to the break-up using a four-point scale. They
also indicated the coping strategies they employed after the break-up.
The Data
The data supported some of the hypotheses. Men reported less joy and relief after break-ups
than women. Men and women used different coping strategies, with men more likely to engage in
distractions like work or sports, while women were more likely to blame their partners. Love schemas
were found to be related to both emotional reactions and coping strategies, with secure individuals
coping better and clingy individuals suffering the most.
Implications
The study "Gender, Love Schemas, and Reactions to Romantic Break-Ups" by Patricia Choo,
Timothy Levine, and Elaine Hatfield looks at how men and women deal with the feelings and aftermath
of a breakup, and how this is affected by their beliefs about love, called love schemas.
The findings of the study can help us understand how people get through tough times in their
love lives. For example, if someone is going through a break-up, knowing that men might not feel as
happy or relieved as women do right after can help friends and family support them better.
Understanding that some people might blame themselves or their ex can also be useful when trying to
comfort someone who is hurting. These insights can guide how we talk about break-ups and offer
advice. For instance, if a friend is secure in love, they might bounce back quicker, so you know not to
worry too much. But if another friend is clingy, you will know they might need more time and support to
get over the break-up. The study also reminds us that everyone deals with love and loss in their own
way, and there's no one-size-fits-all approach to healing a broken heart. This knowledge can make us
more empathetic and understanding when we see people struggling with relationship issues. It can also
help us be more aware of our own reactions when we go through similar experiences.
Additionally, Choo et al. research ties into the ideas about attraction and love in Aronson et al.'s
"Social Psychology" (2022). First, it shows that men and women might feel differently after a breakup,
with men less likely to feel happy or relieved right away. This is like what Aronson et al. (2022) talk
about, where men and women express emotions differently. Second, the study finds that men and
women cope with breakups in different ways. Men might throw themselves into work or sports, while
women might blame their ex-partner more. This lines up with the different coping mechanisms for men
and women mentioned in Aronson et al. (2022). Third, the study shows that people's love schemas—
whether they are secure, clingy, or not interested in love—affect how they feel and cope with a
breakup. People who are secure in love handle breakups better, while clingy people might have a harder
time and blame themselves. This is like the attachment styles in Aronson et al. (2022), which come from
early relationships with caregivers and influence how we act in our adult relationships.
Limitations
The study by Choo, Levine, and Hatfield gives us some good ideas about how breakups affect
people, but it has some problems. It mainly looks at how men and women are different, which might
make it seem like gender is the only thing that matters when there are lots of other things that can
affect how someone feels after a breakup. Also, the study was just done with college kids from Hawaii,
so it might not match up with what happens to people who are older or from different places.
Another issue is that the study asks people to tell them how they feel and what they do, and
sometimes people might not be totally honest or might not remember things right. Plus, the study only
looks at people at one moment, not as time goes by, so we do not really know how people's feelings and
ways of dealing with things change as they get over a breakup. The study does not think about how
people from different cultures different ideas about love and relationships might have, which could
change how they react to a breakup. And the idea of love schemas is helpful, but it might not cover all
the ways people's feelings about love can change. Lastly, the study tells us about some common ways
people try to cope with a breakup, but it does not say which ways are the best. So, we need more
research to really understand how people deal with their feelings after a breakup.
References
Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., Sommers, S.R., Page-Gould, E., & Lewis, N., Jr. (2022). Social
Psychology. (11th ed.) New York: Pearson Education.
Choo, Patricia, et al. “Gender, Love Schemas, and Reactions to Romantic Break-Ups.” Journal of
Social Behavior and Personality, 1 Jan. 1996. Accessed 8 Aug. 2024.
