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10: Close Relationships- Friends, Family, and Romantic Partners

  • Page ID
    298924
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    Learning Objectives

    • Identify and understand different types of interpersonal relationships, needs, roles, and norms
    • Discuss how interpersonal communication changes as we move through various relationship stages
    • Explain the influence that context, identity, and culture have on our interpersonal communication interactions and relationships
    • Apply interpersonal communication theories and strategies when discussing and analyzing relationships

    Interpersonal communication is vital to building, maintaining, and even ending our relationships. In this chapter, we discuss the foundations of relationships, relational stages, and the tools and strategies to achieve the relational outcomes we desire. We talk about healthy and unhealthy communication in relationships, and how to deal with relationship termination.

    • 10.1: Common Relationship Types
      Family, friendships, work relationships, and romantic relationships are common relationship types discussed in this section.  Additionally, we look at Family Types, based on how Conversation and Conformity Orientations interact in different ways.
    • 10.2: Love Languages
    • 10.3: Communication Relationship Theories
    • 10.4: Forming Attachments
      Attachment is the close bond with a caregiver from which the infant derives a sense of security. The formation of attachments in infancy has been the subject of considerable research as attachments have been viewed as foundations for future relationships. Additionally, attachments form the basis for confidence and curiosity as toddlers, and as important influences on self- concept.
    • 10.5: Attachment in Adulthood
      Hazan and Shaver (1987) described the attachment styles of adults, using the same three general categories proposed by Ainsworth’s research on young children; secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent. Bartholomew (1990) challenged the categorical view of attachment in adults and suggested that adult attachment was best described as varying along two dimensions; attachment related-anxiety and attachment-related avoidance.

    Thumbnail: Sisters Laughing Together by Alex Starnes in Public Domain