Attachment--and loss.

The measurement of meaning

The Social Psychology of Groups. J. W Thibaut & H. H. Kelley. New York: alley, 1959. The team of Thibaut and Kelley goes back to 1946 when, after serving in different units of the armed services psychology program, the authors joined the Research Center for Group Dynamics, first at M.LT and then at the University of Michigan. Their continued association eventuated in appointments as fellows at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 19561957. It is during these years that their collaboration resulted in the publication of The Social Psychology of Groups. The book was designed to "bring order and coherence to present-day research in interpersonal relations and group functioning." To accomplish this aim, the authors introduced, defined, and illustrated basic concepts in an effort to explain the simplest of social phenomena, the two-person relationship. These basic principles and concepts were then employed to illuminate larger problems and more complex social relationships and to examine the significance of such concepts as roles, norm, power, group cohesiveness, and status. The lasting legacy of this book is derived from the fact that the concepts and principles discussed therein serve as a foundation for one of the dominant conceptual frameworks in the field of family studies today-the social exchange framework. Specifically, much of our contemporary thinking about the process of interpersonal attraction and about how individuals evaluate their close relationships has been influenced by the theory and concepts introduced in The Social Psychology of Groups. Today, as a result of Thibaut and Kelley, we think of interpersonal attraction as resulting from the unique valence of driving and restraining forces, rewards and costs, subjectively thought to be available from a specific relationship and its competing alternatives. We understand, as well, that relationships are evaluated through complex and subjectively based comparative processes. As a result, when we think about assessing the degree to which individuals are satisfied with their relationships, we take into consideration the fact that individuals differ in terms of the importance they attribute to different aspects of a relationship (e.g., financial security, sexual fulfillment, companionship). We also take into consideration the fact that individuals differ in terms of the levels of rewards and costs that they believe are realistically obtainable and deserved from a relationship. In addition, as a result of Thibaut and Kelley's theoretical focus on the concept of dependence and the interrelationship between attraction and dependence, there has evolved within the field of family studies a deeper appreciation for the complexities and variability found within relationships. Individuals are dependent on their relationships, according to Thibaut and Kelley, when the outcomes derived from the existing relationship exceed those perceived to be available in competing alternatives. Individuals who are highly dependent on their relationships are less likely to act to end their relationships. This dependence and the stability it engenders may or may not be voluntary, depending on the degree to which individuals are attracted to and satisfied with their relationships. When individuals are both attracted to and dependent on their relationships, they can be thought of as voluntarily participating in their relationship. That is, they are likely to commit themselves to the partner and relationship and actively work for its continuance. Thibaut and Kelley termed those relationships characterized by low levels of satisfaction and high levels of dependence "nonvoluntary relationships. …

The Social Psychology of Groups

The most frequently utilized measures of relational maintenance (i.e., the five-factor relational maintenance strategies measure, or RMSM, and the revised seven-factor RMSM) suffer from fundamental measurement flaws. Therefore, this article describes a series of studies designed to identify weaknesses in these measures and offer an improvement — the Relational Maintenance Behavior Measure (RMBM). When sound item-construction practices are followed, neither prior RMSM is viable. However, the factor structure of the RMBM is stable across three samples. The RMBM and the five-factor RMSM were examined in association with the relational characteristics of satisfaction, liking, commitment, and love. It is argued that the RMBM is a psychometrically superior measure of the original maintenance dimensions identified in earlier research.

Measuring relationship maintenance behaviors: Critique and development of the revised relationship maintenance behavior scale

This article continues a research program on relational maintenance strategies used in marriage. In particular, we explore how equity and satisfaction, defined in terms of interdependence theory, individually and jointly are predictive of self-reported maintenance strategies. The rationale for the study is based on previous programmatic efforts, as well as a critique of these efforts. Over 200 married couples completed measures of equity, satisfaction, and self-reported maintenance strategies of positivity, openness, assurances, social networks, and sharing tasks. Findings reveal that satisfaction tends to be highest for spouses who perceive their relationships to be equitable, followed by overbenefited partners, followed by underbenefited partners (a curvilinear association, predicted by equity theory). Moreover, wife-defined equity predicted both wife and husband maintenance behaviors in the same inverted curvilinear pattern. The predicted curvilinear trend held only for women-defined equity groups, not...

Equity and Interdependence as Predictors of Relational Maintenance Strategies

This study examined individual communicator variables reasoned to predict the use of relational maintenance strategies in marriage. These variables were self-monitoring, concern for appropriateness, and Machiavellianism. The study revealed that individual communicator variables were predictive of several relational maintenance strategies, especially among husbands, specifically these were the concern for appropriateness subscales of attention to social comparison information and cross-situational variability, the self-monitoring subscale of ability to modify self-presentation, and the Machiavellianism subscale of cynicism. Cross-situational variability, attention to social comparison information, cynicism, and deceit also played significant roles in wives’ use of positivity and especially network strategies, although some relationships were contrary to expectations.

Individual Differences in the Use of Relational Maintenance Strategies in Marriage

Verbal and nonverbal methods for expressing appreciation in friendships and romantic relationships: A cross-cultural comparison

This study examined the construct of relational repair in marriage in the context of accommodation theory and presented an instrument designed to measure relationship repair. The instrument provided the following four factors derived from a sample of 239 married people: assurances, openness, time, and punishments. Based on the connection between accommodation behavior and commitment, the study also assessed the relationship between the repair factors and Johnson, Caughlin, and Huston's (1999) tripartite marital commitment construct. Factor analysis provided support for the tripartite construct of commitment. Regression analysis revealed significant associations between personal and structural commitment and all four relational repair factors. Moral commitment was significantly associated with all of the repair factors except punishments.

Personal, Moral, and Structural Commitment and the Repair of Marital Relationships

This article examines the influence of attachment style and several relational variables on the interpretation of relational repair messages. Participants were 191 remarried individuals who completed questionnaires that measured marital satisfaction, attachment style, commitment, communal strength, and interpretations of hypothetical repair messages from their spouses with varying levels of equivocation. Interpretations were measured along the dimensions of honesty, competence, and politeness using Likert-type scales developed and successfully employed in previous research. Results of regression and MANOVA analyses found that, as predicted, each of the relational variables positively influenced repair message interpretation, and that attachment styles also influenced these interpretations. Results are discussed in terms of the need for relational repair research that makes use of broader predictive models and deals with both production and interpretation of repair messages.

Attachment Style, Marital Satisfaction, Commitment, and Communal Strength Effects on Relational Repair Message Interpretation among Remarrieds

This study was concerned with the stability of measures of relational maintenance behaviors in marriage and both theoretical and methodological implications of instability. Effects of differences of populations, types of relationships, methods of response elicitation, and sex on components identified through factor analysis were examined. Comparisons were also made between exploratory factor analysis and principal components analysis. A survey of previous research showed the popularity of a single model of relational maintenance in marriage (Canary & Stafford, 1992; Stafford & Canary, 1991) but a comparative dearth of confirmatory or other forms of factor analysis. Direct factor analytic comparisons of two datasets collected using identical sampling techniques and methods of response elicitation showed theoretically important variation in both factor structure and item composition. Comparisons of female and male responses within each dataset revealed similar variation. Theoretical implications are discuss...

J. Donald Ragsdale

Papers

Individual Differences in the Use of Relational Maintenance Strategies in Marriage

Verbal and nonverbal methods for expressing appreciation in friendships and romantic relationships: A cross-cultural comparison

Personal, Moral, and Structural Commitment and the Repair of Marital Relationships

Attachment Style, Marital Satisfaction, Commitment, and Communal Strength Effects on Relational Repair Message Interpretation among Remarrieds

Measuring relational maintenance in marriage: Theoretical and methodological issues