Research: Completed Projects

We have completed a number of different NIH and NSF funded studies on relationship dissolution, including experimental investigations of marital dissolution and non-marital romantic breakups. We actively share data from our NIH-funded Divorce, Sleep, and the Social Environment Study on the Love Consortium via the UNC Dataverse.

Representative publications from our work on marital dissolution and romantic breakups:

Sleep efficiency and naturalistically-observed social behavior following marital separation: The critical role of contact with an ex-partner

Coppola, A.M., Mehl, M.R., Tackman, A.M., Dawson, S.C., O’Hara, K.L., & Sbarra, D.A. (2023). Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40, 1920-1942.

Spinning your wheels: Psychological overinvolvement and actigraphy-assessed sleep efficiency following marital separation

O’Hara, K. L., Mehl, M. R., & Sbarra, D. A. (2022). International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 1-13.

Contact with an ex-partner is associated with psychological distress after marital separation

O’Hara, K.L., Grinberg, A.M, Tackman, A.M., Mehl, M.R., & Sbarra, D.A. (2020). Clinical Psychological Science, 8, 450-463.

Psychological overinvolvement, emotional distress, and daily affect following marital dissolution

Bourassa, K. J., Tackman, A. M., Mehl, M. R., & Sbarra, D. A. (2019). Collabra: Psychology, 5, 8. doi: 0.1525/collabra.184

Convergence of naïve observer and participant-reported ratings of attachment to a former partner: When we should be me

Borelli, J.L., Sbarra, D.A., & Mehl., M.R. (2019). Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 36, 977-999