Making meaning of significant events in past relationships: Implications for depression among newly single individuals

Abstract

Romantic relationship dissolution is among the most stressful events that a person can experience. However, variability exists in the experience of a breakup and its impact on mental health. This study employed a mixed methods approach to understand how newly single people make meaning of significant events in their previous relationships through narrative and the resulting implications for their mental health. Participants were 146 men and women who became single during the course of a 4-wave longitudinal study of relationships and well-being. When asked to write narratives of the most significant event in their prior relationships, participants most frequently wrote about turning points, low points, and decision events. Narratives were not exclusively focused on the breakup itself. Narrative content was predictive of an adaptive resolution of significant events in prior relationships—via positive affective tone of narrative endings—which was in turn predictive of depression in the year after breaking up with a partner. Findings suggest that how people make meaning of events in prior relationships through narrative explain important individual differences in mental health in singlehood. Implications for relationship science, as well as counseling and clinical interventions, are discussed.