Maintaining Relationships Through Communication

Relational maintenance provides a rallying point for those seeking to discover the behaviors that individuals utilize to sustain their personal relationships. Theoretical models, research programs, and specific studies have examined how people in a variety of close relationships choose to define and maintain those relationships. In addition, relational maintenance turns our attention to communicative processes that help people sustain their close relationships. In this collection, editors Daniel J. Canary and Marianne Dainton focus on the communicative processes critical to the maintenance and enhancement of personal relationships. The volume considers variations in maintaining different types of personal relationships; structural constraints on relationship maintenance; and cultural variations in relational maintenance. Contributions to the volume cover a broad range of relational types, including romantic relationships, family relationships, long-distance relationships, workplace relationships, and Gay and Lesbian relationships, among others. Maintaining Relationships Through Communication: Relational, Contextual, and Cultural Variations synthesizes current research in relationship maintenance, emphasizes the ways that behaviors vary in their maintenance functions across relational contexts, discusses alternative explanations for maintaining relationships, and presents avenues for future research. As such, it is intended for students and scholars studying interpersonal communication and personal relationships.

Daniel J. Canary, Marianne Dainton

Chapter 1 Definitions and Perspectives on Relational Maintenance Communication, Kathryn Dindia; Part 1 Maintaining Different Types of Relationships; Chapter 2 Maintaining Family Relationships, Sally Vogl-Bauer; Chapter 3 Maintaining Romantic Relationships: A Summary and Analysis of One Research Program, Laura Stafford; Chapter 4 Maintaining Friendships Throughout the Lifespan, Marianne Dainton, Elaine Zelley, Emily Langan; Chapter 5 Maintaining Undesired Relationships, Jon A. Hess; Part 2 Contextual Variations in Maintaining Relationships; Chapter 6 Maintaining Long-Distance Relationships, Brooks A. Aylor; Chapter 7 Computer-Mediated Communication Effects on Relationship Formation and Maintenance, Michael K. Rabby, Joseph B. Walther; Chapter 8 Relationship Maintenance in Organizational Settings, Vincent R. Waldron; Chapter 9 When Part ners Falter: Repair After a Transgression, Tara M. Emmers-Sommer; Part 3 Cultural Variations in Maintaining Relationships; Chapter 10 Relationship Maintenance in Same-Sex Couples, Stephen M. Haas; Chapter 11 Relationship Maintenance in Intercultural Couples: An Interdependence Analysis, Stanley O. Gaines, Jr., Christopher R. Agnew; Chapter 12 Maintaining Marriages in Russia: Managing Societal Influences and Communication Dynamics, Deborah S. Ballard-Reisch, Marat Zaguidoulline, Daniel J. Weigel; Chapter 13 Maintaining Relationships in Korea and the United States: Features of Korean Culture that Affect Relational Maintenance Beliefs and Behaviors, Young-Ok Yum, Daniel J. Canary; Part 4 Epilogue; Chapter 14 Framing the Maintenance of Relationships Through Communication: An Epilogue, Marianne Dainton;