‘How You Apologize is Just Who You Are’—An Investigation of Apology Components and Self-Construals in Intercultural Romantic Relationships

‘How You Apologize is Just Who You Are’—An Investigation of Apology Components and Self-Construals in Intercultural Romantic Relationships | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article ‘How You Apologize is Just Who You Are’—An Investigation of Apology Components and Self-Construals in Intercultural Romantic Relationships Shuting Yao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7576744/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Apologies are central to maintaining harmony in romantic relationships, yet expectations for how apologies should be expressed may differ across cultural contexts. While prior research has examined broad cultural differences in communication styles, less is known about how underlying self-construals—independent, relational, and collective—shape preferences for apology strategies in intercultural romantic relationships. To address this gap, survey data were collected from 311 participants currently in intercultural romantic relationships. The study assessed how self-construal orientations influence preferred forms of apology. Analyses showed that individuals with independent self-construals tend to favor apologies that include offers of compensation, those with relational self-construals place higher value on apologies that convey empathy, and those with collective self-construals emphasize acknowledgment of violated social or relational norms. These findings suggest that self-construal provides an important psychological lens through which individuals interpret and evaluate apologies. Effective apologies are not uniform but are instead shaped by culturally informed understandings of the self and relationships. Recognizing these differences is crucial for enhancing conflict resolution and fostering emotional connection in intercultural partnerships. The results highlight the broader implication that communication strategies in close relationships benefit from cultural and psychological sensitivity. By tailoring apologies to align with a partner’s self-construal, individuals may strengthen relationship resilience and satisfaction. Humanities/Cultural and media studies Social science/Cultural and media studies Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Self-construal Apology Components Intercultural romantic relationships Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 11 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 09 Jan, 2026 Editor invited by journal 08 Oct, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 27 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 27 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7576744","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":591305688,"identity":"379326cd-acad-4e98-b8a6-fb9433842470","order_by":0,"name":"Shuting Yao","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA8klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCSBOALOYD6AI4tPC2ADRwpbAcAAuSEgLhMVjQJwW+dk95g8e7qhN7G/v+Sb9oeKwvHwD88HbPHi0GNw5Y9iQeOZ44owzZ7dJHDiTZrjhAFuyNV4tEjlALW3HEhtu5G6TONhmw7iBgcdMGp8W+RlQLfNv5DyTOPhPwn5+A/83vFoYboC11CRuuJHDJnGwwSax4QAPG14tBjfSCmckth0w3njmmLHFmWNpyRsOsxlbzsHrsOQNH3+21cnOO9788EZFzWHb+e1Axht8DoOAw44NcDYzYeUgUGdPnLpRMApGwSgYkQAA6apXM5Wqc7sAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"The University of Texas at Austin","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shuting","middleName":"","lastName":"Yao","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-09 19:38:12","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7576744/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7576744/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102963601,"identity":"ef030857-1a03-4392-9769-03beaa2a0d49","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-19 04:19:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":456509,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AnonymizedMainDocumentR2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7576744/v1_covered_857d75f1-2ff3-499f-a646-2569848ecf8e.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"‘How You Apologize is Just Who You Are’—An Investigation of Apology Components and Self-Construals in Intercultural Romantic Relationships","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Self-construal, Apology Components, Intercultural romantic relationships","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7576744/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7576744/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Apologies are central to maintaining harmony in romantic relationships, yet expectations for how apologies should be expressed may differ across cultural contexts. 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