Quinney, B.Wenzel, M.Okimoto, T.G.Thai, M.Woodyatt, L.2025-10-162025-10-162025Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2025; 1-150146-16721552-7433https://hdl.handle.net/2440/147842OnlinePubl. Available online 11 August 2025Research often views relationship repair through a reparative lens of relationship partners attempting to fix what was damaged or broken by the transgression. We argue here for a transformative lens to view transgressions as potential catalysts for the strengthening of relationships or what we term: post-transgression relationship growth (PTRG). However, we also argue that PTRG is more likely achieved when the transgression is dealt with dyadically via a constructive process of coreflection. Results from a pilot study and two pre-registered three-wave longitudinal studies provided validation for a PTRG scale, which assesses relationship growth/decline after transgressions that occurred between romantic relationship partners. Moreover, co-reflection was prospectively positively associated with PTRG when controlling for baseline relationship qualities. Together, these findings highlight that relationships can emerge stronger out of relationship adversity when relationship partners engage in the constructive process of co-reflection.en© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).interpersonal transgressions; stress-related growth; co-rumination; moral repair; justice; relationships; close relationships; communication; ethics/morality; forgiveness; interpersonal processes; interpersonal relationships; romantic relationshipsJournal article10.1177/01461672251358619747324Quinney, B. [0000-0002-2899-2510]