Become involved with someone who is on the rebound?: How fast should you run?(female-male romantic relations)(Report)

Analysis of survey data from 1002 undergraduates at a large southeastern university revealed differences between the 535 or 53.4% who had become involved (while on the rebound from a previous love relationship) in a new relationship compared to 316 or 31.5% who had not become involved in a new relationship while on the rebound. A profile of the rebounder emerged as being impatient for a new love, deceptive/unfaithful, hedonistic and a person who does not practice safe sex. Exchange theory is used to explain the characteristics of the rebounder. Caution about becoming involved with someone on the rebound may be warranted. One answer to the question, "How fast should you run?" may be "as fast as you can" Limitations of the data are suggested

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While love on the rebound is the subject of magazine articles, an Internet Quiz, and an Internet blog (see references) empirical data published in professional journals is virtually nonexistent. Indeed, after an exhaustive Internet search of sociology, psychology, and family studies data bases, we could not find ONE journal article on rebound love relationships of undergraduates. To help fill this deficit, this study focused on the extent to which these relationships exist and the characteristics of rebounders. We are defining the term rebounder (typically referred to as "being on the rebound") as a person in a new relationship who feels a sense of loss due to the ending of a previous romantic relationship. The level of loss and the impact on the new relationship are unknown.

Sample and Methodology

The data for this study were taken from a larger nonrandom sample of 1027 undergraduates at a large southeastern university who answered a 100 item questionnaire (approved by the Institutional Review "Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors of College Students"). Respondents "completed" the questionnaire anonymously (the researcher was not in the room when the questionnaire was completed and no identifying information or codes allowed the researcher to know the identity of the respondents). The term "completed" is in quotation marks since some respondents did not respond to all questions leaving 1002 usable questionnaires. Of these over half (535) or 53.4% "agreed or strongly agreed" with the statement "I have been involved in a relationship when I was clearly on the rebound." In contrast, 316 or 31.5% "disagreed or strongly disagreed." The remaining undergraduates neither agreed nor disagreed. Cross-classification was conducted to determine any relationships with Chi Square utilized to assess statistical significance.

Of the undergraduates who responded to the survey, 34% were male, 66% female. Racial background included 82.3 % whites, 15.3% Blacks (respondent self- identified as African-American Black, African Black, Caribbean Black or biracial) and 2.5% other (Asian/Hispanic). The median age of the sample was 19 with a range of 16 to 52. In regard to year in school, 44.2% were first year students, 26.2% were sophomores, 17.8% were juniors and 11.8% were seniors. As for current relationship of the respondents, 48.5% were not dating anyone or dating casually and 51.5% were emotionally committed or involved. Our focus was on current or past rebound relationships.

Findings and Discussion