An Examination of College Students' Unwanted Pursuit of Ex-Romantic Partners: Relations to Parental Warmth and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation

Unwanted pursuit behaviours (UPBs) are behaviours that are often intended to initiate a relationship or restore romantic relationships following a break-up. Research shows relatively high prevalence rates of UPBs in college students. In the current study, we tested a conceptual mediation model, where perceived parental warmth would be indirectly related to UPBs via emotional regulation difficulties. College students (n = 314) completed online measures of parental warmth, emotion regulation difficulties, and perpetration of UPBs. We found that perceived parental warmth was significantly negatively related to perpetration of UPBs, and only impulse control difficulties showed a significant indirect effect. Parental warmth was directly associated with UPBs even after accounting for emotion regulation difficulties, suggesting that other factors may also explain the relation. Findings encourage future research into other developmental correlates of UPBs in prevention and intervention efforts.