ABSTRACT
Being hurt is an inevitable part of close relationships. What varies from relationship to relationship is not whether partners hurt each other, but how their relationship is affected by hurtful episodes. In some cases, hurtful events and hurtful interactions have very little influence on relationships. Partners who have hurt each other deeply find ways to forgive each other and remain relatively close. In other cases, however, interactions and events that hurt partners have devastating effects on their relationships. Those who are hurt may distance themselves from each other emotionally or physically and may go so far as to end their association with each other.
