your friend has trouble making commitments in relationships. you believe that this is because her parents had a bitter divorce when she was young. your belief that a child who lives through a bitter parental divorce will have trouble making commitments in relationships as an adult would be considered a(n) .

This would be considered a Hypothesis. A hypothesis is an assumption, which has not been proven, of something that we think might explain what we observe or investigate. In this example; based on the evidence, the divorce of the parents, we establish a hypothesis, the divorce caused him to have problems in having commitments, in order to validate or deny the hypothesis, the investigation must be continued.

Bob: coke is baby pandas.jim: what? how do you figure that coke is baby pandas? bob: because this book says so.jim: how do we know the book is correct? bob: because it says that coke is baby pandas.jim: how does that prove the book's accuracy? bob: because it's statement involving coke and baby pandas is correct, therefore it is accurate.jim: how do we know that it's correct? bob: because we have concluded that the book is accurate, and therefore the statement is correct.therefore, coke is baby pandas.