Broadly, my research interests lie in understanding interdependent social processes. Heavily influenced by Interdependence Theory, I study how individuals’ personal characteristics (i.e., those that are not dependent upon specific relational contexts) and relational characteristics (i.e., those that pertain to interpersonal dynamics) reciprocally influence each other and combine to predict relationship outcomes, most notably dissolution processes and health outcomes.

Why do people leave their relationships? This deceptively simple question has dominated my thinking and work to date, beginning with my master’s thesis (VanderDrift, Agnew, & Wilson, 2009). In this work, I considered what process occurs that moves individuals from experiencing flagging commitment to actually leaving their relationships. I developed a construct called dissolution consideration to encapsulate the increased salience of dissolution that people experience just prior to leaving their relationship. Subsequently, I have examined myriad processes associated with dissolution, including:

-the process by which need fulfillment is associated with stay-leave behavior, finding that personal needs promote commitment, whereas relational needs are directly associated with stay-leave behavior (VanderDrift & Agnew, 2012).

-whether valuing the friendship component of a romance more than other aspects is associated with relationship persistence. It is. (VanderDrift, Wilson, & Agnew, 2013; VanderDrift, Lehmiller, & Kelly, 2012)

-how active goal pursuits derail the maintenance necessary for persistence by refocusing attention and biasing relational information processing (VanderDrift & Agnew, 2014)