ABSTRACT
Much of the literature about the dissolution of relationships takes a dissatisfaction or economic focus, where costs are weighed against benefits and the relationship is simplistically evaluated: as beneficial, possibly salvageable, or not worth continuing. However, Johnson’s (1982) work on personal relationships draws attention to factors beyond a dyadic evaluation of satisfaction that are potentially pertinent to family estrangement. In particular, one’s personal and structural commitment to a relationship, in this case a familial relationship, must be considered:
[P]ersonal commitment is an internalized sense of moral commitment to the maintenance of the relationship. This may be derived from . . . moral strictures focused on the maintenance of specific types of relationships, or perhaps from the perception of the relationship as involving an implicit contract, obliging one to its maintenance even in the face of declining dissatisfaction.
