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Relationship Maintenance
Chapter Component

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION: RELATIONSHIP MAINTENANCE


Further Resources 10th Edition

  • For further information on relational maintenance and related issues, see:
    • Daniel J. Canary and Marianne Dainton (Eds.), Maintaining relationships through communication: Relational, contextual, and cultural variations. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., 2003)
    • Daniel J. Canary and Laura Stafford, Communication and Relational Maintenance (San Diego: Academic Press, 1994);
    • Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, Fran C. Dickson, Thi Anh Huynh, Jennifer Morrison, and Lori L. Poole. “Family privacy orientation, relational maintenance, and family satisfaction in young adults’ family relationships,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(2), 123-142.
    • Steve Duck, “Talking Relationships Into Being,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 12 (1995): 535-40;
    • Steve Duck, Meaningful Relationships: Talking, Sense, and Relating (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994);
    • Richard L. Conville, Evolution of Personal Relationships (New York: Praeger, 1991);
    • Brian H. Spitzberg, The Dark Side of Close Relationships (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998). 
    • Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, Fran C. Dickson, Thi Anh Huynh, Jennifer Morrison, and Lori L. Poole. “Family privacy orientation, relational maintenance, and family satisfaction in young adults’ family relationships,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(2), 123-142.

  • In a recent edition of the Journal of Family Communication, Laura Stafford and Dan Canary discussed their work in the area of relational maintenance.  In subsequent edition, others responded to their article and offered critiques upon their body of research. To read the exchange:
    • Laura Stafford and Daniel J. Canary (2007), “Equity and interdependence as predictors of relational maintenance strategies,” Journal of Family Communication, 6(4), 227- 254.
    • J. Donald Ragsdale & Frances Brandau-Brown (2007), “Could relational maintenance in marriage really be like grocery shopping? A reply to Stafford and Canary,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(1), 47-60.
    • Daniel J. Canary & Laura Stafford (2007), “People wantand maintainfair marriages: Reply to Ragsdale and Brandau-Brown,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(1), 61-68.
    • J. Donald Ragsdale & Frances Brandau-Brown (2007), “Asked, but not answered: A second reply to Stafford and Canary,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(1), 69-73.
  • For discussion of feminist approaches to relationships, see Julia T. Wood, “Feminist Scholarship and the Study of Relationships,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 12 (1995): 103-20. 
  • For a study that connects relational communication to cognitive complexity (creating a link to chapter 8), see Robert Martin, “Relational Cognition Complexity and Relational Communication in Personal Relationships,” Communication Monographs 59 (1992): 150-63. 
  • For a thorough study of intimacy, see Karen J. Prager, The Psychology of Intimacy (New York: Guilford, 1995). 
  • A good general collection of essays on relationships is Richard L. Conville and L. Edna Rogers’s The Meaning of “Relationship” in Interpersonal Communication (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998). 
  • Films that feature relationships over time include
    • The Coal Miner's Daughter,
    • Same Time Next Year,
    • Scenes from a Marriage,
    • Annie Hall,
    • Love and Basketball
    • The Story of Us
    • Tender Mercies. 
  • Other films relevant to this area of communication include The Big Chill, The Four Seasons, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Break-up.

CHANGE TO: View by Type

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 THEORY HOME
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Instructors can get additional
resources. Read more

OVERVIEWS

SELF QUIZ

OUTLINES


VIDEOS

APP LOGS

ESSAY

MOVIE CLIPS

LINKS

SOURCES



TEXT COMPARE

Archived chapters (PDF)
from previous editions
are available in
Resources by Type.
See list

New to Theory
Resources?

Find out more in this short
video overview (3:01).


Relationship Maintenance
Chapter Component

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION: RELATIONSHIP MAINTENANCE


Further Resources 10th Edition

  • For further information on relational maintenance and related issues, see:
    • Daniel J. Canary and Marianne Dainton (Eds.), Maintaining relationships through communication: Relational, contextual, and cultural variations. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., 2003)
    • Daniel J. Canary and Laura Stafford, Communication and Relational Maintenance (San Diego: Academic Press, 1994);
    • Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, Fran C. Dickson, Thi Anh Huynh, Jennifer Morrison, and Lori L. Poole. “Family privacy orientation, relational maintenance, and family satisfaction in young adults’ family relationships,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(2), 123-142.
    • Steve Duck, “Talking Relationships Into Being,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 12 (1995): 535-40;
    • Steve Duck, Meaningful Relationships: Talking, Sense, and Relating (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994);
    • Richard L. Conville, Evolution of Personal Relationships (New York: Praeger, 1991);
    • Brian H. Spitzberg, The Dark Side of Close Relationships (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998). 
    • Mary Claire Morr Serewicz, Fran C. Dickson, Thi Anh Huynh, Jennifer Morrison, and Lori L. Poole. “Family privacy orientation, relational maintenance, and family satisfaction in young adults’ family relationships,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(2), 123-142.

  • In a recent edition of the Journal of Family Communication, Laura Stafford and Dan Canary discussed their work in the area of relational maintenance.  In subsequent edition, others responded to their article and offered critiques upon their body of research. To read the exchange:
    • Laura Stafford and Daniel J. Canary (2007), “Equity and interdependence as predictors of relational maintenance strategies,” Journal of Family Communication, 6(4), 227- 254.
    • J. Donald Ragsdale & Frances Brandau-Brown (2007), “Could relational maintenance in marriage really be like grocery shopping? A reply to Stafford and Canary,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(1), 47-60.
    • Daniel J. Canary & Laura Stafford (2007), “People wantand maintainfair marriages: Reply to Ragsdale and Brandau-Brown,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(1), 61-68.
    • J. Donald Ragsdale & Frances Brandau-Brown (2007), “Asked, but not answered: A second reply to Stafford and Canary,” Journal of Family Communication, 7(1), 69-73.
  • For discussion of feminist approaches to relationships, see Julia T. Wood, “Feminist Scholarship and the Study of Relationships,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 12 (1995): 103-20. 
  • For a study that connects relational communication to cognitive complexity (creating a link to chapter 8), see Robert Martin, “Relational Cognition Complexity and Relational Communication in Personal Relationships,” Communication Monographs 59 (1992): 150-63. 
  • For a thorough study of intimacy, see Karen J. Prager, The Psychology of Intimacy (New York: Guilford, 1995). 
  • A good general collection of essays on relationships is Richard L. Conville and L. Edna Rogers’s The Meaning of “Relationship” in Interpersonal Communication (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998). 
  • Films that feature relationships over time include
    • The Coal Miner's Daughter,
    • Same Time Next Year,
    • Scenes from a Marriage,
    • Annie Hall,
    • Love and Basketball
    • The Story of Us
    • Tender Mercies. 
  • Other films relevant to this area of communication include The Big Chill, The Four Seasons, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Break-up.

 
 
 
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