Leslie A. Baxter

Dialectical Contradictions in Relationship Development

Three fundamental contradictions were examined in the stages of development identified retrospectively by 106 romantic relationship parties: autonomy-connection, openness-closedness, and predictability-novelty. The contradictions were reported to be present in approximately three-quarters of all identified stages. The openness closedness contradiction was more likely than the other two contradictions to be reported during the initial stage of development; autonomy connection and predictability-novelty contradictions were reported with increased frequency in subsequent developmental stages. Relationship parties reported that they managed the contradictions with six basic types of responses. These response forms were not reported with equal frequency across the contradictions and the stages of development. Current relationship satisfaction did not correlate significantly with the reported presence of the contradictions but did correlate with the ways in which the contradictions were managed.

Strategies for Maintaining and Repairing Marital Relationships

Although relationship research has concentrated on relational formation and termination processes, most of the time spent in long-term relationships is devoted to relational maintenance and/or repair. The present study examines the maintenance/repair strategies reported by fifty couples (n= 100 spouses). It attempts to discover the strategies and the ways in which their number and choice are related to marital satisfaction, participation in a marital enrichment programme, length of marriage and respondent gender. Forty-nine strategies were identified and clustered into twelve superordinate strategy types. Respondents most frequently reported use of prosocial, ceremonial, communication and togetherness strategy types. More strategies were reported in accomplishing maintenance than repair of the relationship. However, the same types of strategies were reported for both maintenance and repair with the exceptions of metacommunication and anti-ritual/spontaneity strategies. The number of strategies correlated negatively with length of marriage. Implications for future research include the need for comparative work among premarital, marital and divorced couples. In addition, the need to develop understanding of such strategies for use in marital enrichment programmes is discussed.

Disciplining the feminine

This essay, positioned at the nexus of several intellectual projects, including the rhetoric of inquiry, the ideological turn, critical rhetoric, and feminist theory, provides a case study of some of the practices in the communication discipline that support a masculinist ideology. The authors examine the ideological issues and practices implicated in a 1992 report on “Active Prolific Female Scholars in Communication” and in their effort to publish a critique of this report. The essay departs from normal conventions of academic writing, which privilege a unitary authorial voice, instead presenting the multivocality of several text fragments.

Blended relationships: Friends as work associates

Researchers of personal relationships for the most part have ignored the social contexts in which the relationship parties are embedded. This study examines blended friendships, i.e., close friends who are embedded in the same work environment, from a relational dialectics perspective. A survey comprised of open‐ended and closed‐ended items was completed by 162 adults who had a close friend as a work associate. Five dialectical tensions were identified: autonomy‐connection, equality‐inequality, impartiality‐favoritism, judgment‐acceptance, and openness‐closedness. The overall amount of reported dual‐role tension was positively associated with organizational formalization and negatively related to relationship closeness. Blended friends were more likely to manage dual‐role tension through Role Integration under conditions of decreasing tension and increasing workgroup cohesion. Status‐unequal friends were more likely than status‐equal friends to manage their dual‐role tension through Selection.

Engaging theories in interpersonal communication : multiple perspectives

Introduction: Meta-Theory and Theory in Interpersonal Communication Research - Dawn O. Braithwaite, Paul Schrodt, and Kristen Carr PART I: Individually Centered Theories of Interpersonal Communication Action Assembly Theory: Forces of Creation - John O. Greene Attribution Theory: Finding Good Cause in the Search for Theory - Brian H. Spitzberg and Valerie Manusov Evolutionary Theories: Explaining the Links Between Biology and Interpersonal Communication - Tamara Afifi, Sharde Davis, and Amanda Denes Goals-Plans-Action Theory of Message Production: Making Influence Messages - James Price Dillard Imagined Interaction Theory: Mental Representations of Interpersonal Communication - James M. Honeycutt Planning Theory of Communication: Goal Attainment Through Communicative Action - Charles R. Berger Problematic Integration Theory and Uncertainty Management Theory: Learning to Hear and Speak to Different Forms of Uncertainty - Austin S. Babrow and Katie M. Striley Relational Framing Theory: Drawing Inferences About Relationships From Interpersonal Interactions - Rachel M. McLaren and Denise Haunani Solomon Supportive Communication Theories: Dual-Process Theory of Supportive Message Outcomes and Advice Response Theory - Graham D. Bodie and Erina L. MacGeorge Theory of Motivated Information Management: Struggles With Uncertainty and Its Outcomes - Walid A. Afifi and Stephanie Robbins PART II: Discourse/Interaction-Centered Theories of Interpersonal Communication Communication Accommodation Theory: A Situated Framework for Relational, Family, and Intergroup Dynamics - Howard Giles and Jordan Soliz Communication Theory of Identity: Multilayered Understandings of Performed Identities - Michael L. Hecht Critical Approaches to Interpersonal Communication: Charting a Future - Leslie A. Baxter and Bryan Asbury Critical Feminist Theories: Giving Voice and Visibility to Womens Experiences in Interpersonal Relations - Julia T. Wood Expectancy Violations Theory and Interaction Adaptation Theory: From Expectations to Adaptation - Cindy H. White Face Theory: Goffmans Dramatistic Approach to Interpersonal Interaction - Sandra Metts and William R. Cupach Grounded Practical Theory: Theorizing Communicative Practices - Karen Tracy Narrative Theories: Making Sense of Interpersonal Communication - Jody Koenig Kellas Politeness Theory: How We Use Language to Save Face - Daena J. Goldsmith and Emily Lamb Normand Relational Dialectics Theory: Navigating Meaning From Competing Discourses - Leslie A. Baxter and Kristen M. Norwood Speech Codes Theory: Traces of Culture in Interpersonal Communication - Gerry Philipsen PART III: Relationship-Centered Theories of Interpersonal Communication Affection Exchange Theory: A Bio-Evolutionary Look at Affectionate Communication - Kory Floyd, Colin Hesse, and Mark Alan Generous Attachment Theory: A Communication Perspective - Laura K. Guerrero Communication Privacy Management Theory: Significance for Interpersonal Communication - Sandra Petronio and Wesley T. Durham Interpersonal Deception Theory: Purposive and Interdependent Behavior During Deceptive Interpersonal Interactions - Judee K. Burgoon and David B. Buller Media Multiplexity Theory: Technology Use and Interpersonal Tie Strength - Andrew M. Ledbetter The Relational Turbulence Model: Communicating During Times of Transition - Leanne K. Knobloch Stage Theories of Relationship Development: Charting the Course of Interpersonal Communication - Paul A. Mongeau and Mary Lynn Miller Henningsen Social Exchange Theories: Calculating the Rewards and Costs of Personal Relationships - Laura Stafford Social Information Processing Theory: Impressions and Relationship Development Online - Joseph B. Walther

Turning Points in the Development of Blended Families

A modified retrospective interview technique (RIT) was employed with members of 53 blended families to determine the types of turning points they reported experiencing and the developmental trajectories of their respective blended family’s first 4 years. Findings revealed 15 primary types of turning points, of which ‘Changes in Household Configuration’, ‘Conflict’, ‘Holidays/Special Events’, ‘Quality Time’ and ‘Family Crisis’ were the most frequent. A cluster analysis revealed five basic trajectories of development for the first 48 months of family development: Accelerated, Prolonged, Stagnating, Declining and High-amplitude Turbulent. The trajectories differed in the overall positive-to-negative valence ratio, the frequency of conflict related events, the average amplitude of change in feeling like a family, and the current reported level of feeling like a family.

Perceptions of Dialectical Contradictions in Turning Points of Development in Heterosexual Romantic Relationships

The current study sought to examine the perceived centrality or importance of six basic contradictions in the turning points of relationship development for heterosexual romantic pairs. A modified Retrospective Interview Technique was employed to elicit respondent accounts of the turning points of their relationship. For our sample of 100 males and females, drawn from 50 heterosexual romantic couples, the contradictions of Autonomy-Connection and Openness-Closedness were attributed greatest importance across a wide range of turning-point event types. The perceived importance of three other contradictions (Inclusion-Seclusion, Revelation-Concealment, and Predictability-Novelty) was localized in particular turning-point events. The contradiction of Conventionality-Uniqueness was lowest in perceived importance across turning point types.

Relationship Maintenance Strategies and Dialectical Contradictions in Personal Relationships

This questionnaire study of both partners from 162 romantic and marital relationships sought to examine perceived partner maintenance strategies as correlates of participant satisfaction for relationships at varying dialectical moments of the autonomy-connection, predictability-novelty and openness-closedness contradictions. The perceived partner maintenance strategies of contact, romance and avoidance varied in efficacy depending on the particular dialectical conditions of the relationship, especially among male participants.

Stepchildren’s Perceptions of the Contradictions in Communication with Stepparents

This interpretive study, framed in relational dialectics theory, sought to identify stepchildren’s perceptions of the contradictions that animate communication with the stepparent in their household of primary residence. In-depth interviews were conducted, producing 802 pages of double-spaced interview transcripts, which were analyzed inductively for commonly experienced contradictions of stepchild-stepparent communication. Three underlying contradictions were identified. First, stepchild-stepparent communication was perceived to be characterized by a dialectic of integration, characterized by both closeness and distance. Second, stepchild-stepparent communication was perceived to be characterized by a dialectic of parental status, in which the stepparent was, and was not, granted legitimacy in a parent role. Third, stepchild-stepparent communication was perceived to be animated by a dialectic of expression in which both candor and discretion were featured.

Trajectories of Relationship Disengagement

It was the purpose of this study to explore primarily through qualitative data the process by which personal relationships dissolve. In applying the method of analytic induction to ninety-seven heterosexual romantic relationship break-ups, a flow chart of the disengagement process was developed around six distinctive features of the break-up process. This flow chart was subsequently used to trace the dissolution process for each break-up account, producing eight basic trajectories of disengagement for this data set. The study supports the argument by Kressel et al. (1980) that researchers must abandon the simplistic search for a single set of stages or steps by which relationships change, recognizing instead the patterned differences among relationships.