Provides an interdisciplinary perspective on behaviors and strategies used to maintain intimate relationships.

This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive summary of the psychology of close relationships, and showcases classic and contemporary theories, models, and empirical research that have been conducted in the field.

Communication and Relationship Maintenance provides readers with a comprehensive, dynamic examination of relationship maintenance across a variety of relational contexts. Informed by contemporary research and literature in communication, psychology, and sociology, this text introduces the study of relationship maintenance, highlights current issues and debates, and provides insight as to the future of the discipline. Each chapter focuses on a particular relationship type and emphasizes a concept that influences its maintenance. For each relationship, authors Marianne Dainton and Scott A. Myers explore critical theories used to understand the maintenance process for the relationship and illuminate its unique features, the maintenance behaviors typically applied in the relationship, and the significant influences on the use of maintenance activities for that particular type. Relational contexts covered include opposite-sex romantic relationships, same-sex romantic relationships, friendships, family relationships, and workplace relationships. Additional chapters examine cultural variations on the maintenance process, the role of mediated communication on relationship maintenance, and the future of scholarly study within the discipline. Communication and Relationship Maintenance is well suited for advanced undergraduate and graduate and courses in relational and interpersonal communication. Marianne Dainton (Ph.D., The Ohio State University) is a professor of communication at La Salle University, where she teaches courses in interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, and communication theory. Dr. Dainton is the author/coauthor of Maintaining Relationships through Communication, Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life, and Maintaining Black Marriage. Scott A. Myers (Ph.D., Kent State University) is a professor and the Peggy Rardin McConnell Endowed Teaching Chair of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, where he teaches courses in instructional communication, organizational communication, and communication pedagogy. Dr. Myers is the coauthor of The Fundamentals of Small Group Communication and The Communication Age: Connecting and Engaging.

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.

In the past 10 years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of theoretical and empirical investigations into the maintenance and enhancement of close, romantic relationships. This literature targets the everyday behaviors, expressions of love, and cognitive styles that characterize such relationships. Chapters provide a sampling of the expanse of topics in the domain of how clinical scholars and practitioners address the timely topic of maintaining and enhancing close romantic relationships, including marriage. A distinguished group of scholars and therapists discuss specific problems, such as alcoholism and therapeutic interventions, such as insight therapy. Topics include maintenance issues relevant to: depression, anxiety disorders, the role of children in affecting close relationships, how premarital therapy may serve as an antidote to early relationship problems, forgiveness, remarriage issues, and peer marriage. This volume is intended for practitioners in the field of close romantic relationships, such as marriage, family and relationship therapists, and clinicians.

'The authors ...extend the reach of their comprehensive reviews into theoretically driven and innovating explorations. The scope of coverage across and within chapters is striking. The developmentalist, the methodologist, the feminist, the contextualist, and the cross-culturalist alike will find satisfaction in reading the chapters' - Catherine A Surra, University of Texas, Austin The science of close relationships is relatively new and complex. This volume has 26 chapters organized into four thematic areas: relationship methods, forms, processes, and threats, as well as a foreword and an epilogue.