Personalizers’ Responses to Hurt: Do Intensity and Intentionality Mediate Relational Distancing?

ABSTRACT Conflict can be hurtful for anyone; however, individuals who take conflict personally (personalizers) may be uniquely affected by these interactions. We anticipated that both perceived intentionality and intensity of hurt feelings would either fully or partially mediate personalizers’ relational distancing response. Results of the structural equation model (SEM) uncovered that personalizers’ degree of emotional pain fully mediated the extent to which they distanced themselves from their partner, whereas their perceptions of intent played no meaningful role, either in full or part, in this process. Theoretical implications and practical suggestions for navigating conflict with personalizers are discussed.