• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.247-261
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• 2019

Demand/withdraw communication is an important dysfunctional pattern of serial arguing. This study aims at addressing factors that affect the ways in which self-demand/partner-withdraw pattern increases the likelihood of persistence of serial arguing. We posit that sensitivity to rejection is positively related to the degree to which individuals perceive a partners' behavior as generally disconfirming, which is positively related to enactment of self-demand/partner-withdraw during an argumentative episode. This sequence is positively related to perception of arguments as unresolved. In addition, among those who reported their argument was resolved, this sequence is positively related to the likelihood that the argument is resolved without mutual agreement. Serial mediation analysis confirmed that the likelihood of resolution without mutual agreement were positively associated with rejection sensitivity partially because high RS individuals are likely to perceive their partner to be generally disconfirming and to enact self-demand/partner-withdraw communication during the episode. However, this pattern did not apply to perception of the argument as resolved.