The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relationships (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology)

913 Pages·2006·4.88 MB·English

by  Anita L. Vangelisti, Daniel Perlman

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The Cambridge Handbook
of Personal Relationships
The Cambridge Handbook of Personal Relation- versity of Texas at Austin. Her work focuses
ships serves as a benchmark of the current state of on the associations between communication and
scholarship in this dynamic field, synthesizing the emotion in the context of close, personal rela-
extant theoretical and empirical literature, trac- tionships. She has published numerous arti-
ing its historical roots, and making recommenda- cles and chapters and has edited several books.
tions for future directions. The volume addresses Vangelisti has served on the editorial boards
a broad range of established and emerging topics, of over a dozen scholarly journals and has
including theoretical and methodological issues received recognition for her research from the
that influence the study of personal relationships; National Communication Association and the
research and theory on relationship development; International Society for the Study of Personal
the nature and functions of personal relation- Relationships.
ships across the life span; individual differences
and their influences on relationships; relationship Daniel Perlman is an academic psychologist
processes such as cognition, emotion, and com- with broad, applied interests that cut across
munication; relational qualities such as satisfac- social, developmental, and clinical psychology
tion and commitment; environmental influences as focused on the study of close relationships.
on personal relationships; and maintenance and He is a professor of Family Studies and also
repair of relationships. The authors are experts teaches in the Department of Psychology at the
from a variety of disciplines, including several University of British Columbia. He was presi-
subfields of psychology, communication, family dent of the International Society for the Study
studies, and sociology, who have made major con- of Personal Relationships and the Canadian Psy-
tributions to the understanding of relationships. chological Association. He has authored more
than 50 articles, edited or authored 15 books,
Anita L. Vangelisti is a professor in the Depart- and been the editor or associate editor for four
ment of Communication Studies at the Uni- journals.
i
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ii
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The Cambridge Handbook
of Personal Relationships
Edited by
Anita L. Vangelisti
and
Daniel Perlman
iii
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cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sa˜o Paulo
Cambridge University Press
40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, usa
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521826174
⃝c Cambridge University Press 2006
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2006
Printed in the United States of America
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
The Cambridge handbook of personal relationships / edited by Anita L. Vangelisti,
Daniel Perlman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13 : 978-0-521-82617-4 (hardcover)
isbn-10: 0-521-82617-9 (hardcover)
isbn-13 : 978-0-521-53359-1 (pbk.)
isbn-10: 0-521-53359-7 (pbk.)
1. Interpersonal relations – Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2 . Interpersonal
communication – Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3 . Social psychology –
Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Vangelisti, Anita L. II. Perlman, Daniel.
isbn-13 978-0-521-82617-4 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-82617-9 hardback
isbn-13 978-0-521-53359-1 paperback
isbn-10 0-521-53359-7 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for
the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or
third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such
Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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Contents
Preface page ix 4. Research Methods for the Study
Ellen Berscheid of Personal Relationships 51
Mahnaz Charania
Contributors xvii
William J. Ickes
p a r t i 5. Advances in Data Analytic
INTRODUCTION Approaches for Relationships
Research: The Broad Utility
1. Personal Relationships: An of Hierarchical Linear
Introduction 3 Modeling 73
Daniel Perlman Deborah A. Kashy
Anita L. Vangelisti Lorne Campbell
David W. Harris
p a r t ii
6. Relationship Typologies 91
FOUNDATIONS FOR STUDYING
C. Arthur VanLear
RELATIONSHIPS
Ascan Koerner
2 . The Seven Seas of the Study of Donna M. Allen
Personal Relationships: From
“The Thousand Islands” to p a r t iii
Interconnected Waterways 11 DEVELOPMENT OF
Daniel Perlman RELATIONSHIPS
Steve Duck
7. From Courtship to Universal
3. Theoretical Perspectives in the Properties: Research on Dating
Study of Close Relationships 35 and Mate Selection, 1950 to 2003 113
John H. Harvey Catherine A. Surra
Amy Wenzel Christine R. Gray
v
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vi contents
Tyfany M. J. Boettcher 16. The Intimate Same-Sex
Nathan R. Cottle Relationships of Sexual
Adam R. West
Minorities 293
8. The Affective Structure of Lisa M. Diamond
Marriage 131
17. Family Relationships and
John P. Caughlin Depression 313
Ted L. Huston
Deborah J. Jones
Steven R. H. Beach
9. Divorce and Postdivorce
Frank D. Fincham
Relationships 157
Marilyn Coleman
Lawrence Ganong p a r t vi
Kim Leon
BASIC PROCESSES
18. Communication: Basic
p a r t iv
Properties and Their
RELATIONSHIPS ACROSS THE Relevance to Relationship
LIFE SPAN Research 331
Alan L. Sillars
10. Relationships in Early and
Anita L. Vangelisti
Middle Childhood 177
Willard W. Hartup 19. Social Cognition in Intimate
Relationships 353
11. Personal Relationships in
Garth J. O. Fletcher
Adolescence and Early
Nickola C. Overall
Adulthood 191
Myron D. Friesen
W. Andrew Collins
Stephanie D. Madsen 2 0. Emotion in Theories of Close
Relationships 369
12 . Close Relationships in Middle
Sally Planalp
and Late Adulthood 211
Julie Fitness
Rosemary Blieszner
Beverley Fehr
2 1. Physiology and Interpersonal
p a r t v
Relationships 385
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Timothy J. Loving
Kathi L. Heffner
13. Personality and Relationships: A
Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser
Temperament Perspective 231
Jeffry A. Simpson
p a r t vii
Heike A. Winterheld
Jennie Y. Chen INTERACTIVE PROCESSES
14. Attachment Theory, 2 2 . Self-Disclosure in Personal
Individual Psychodynamics, Relationships 409
and Relationship
Kathryn Greene
Functioning 251
Valerian J. Derlega
Phillip R. Shaver Alicia Mathews
Mario Mikulincer
2 3. Close Relationships and Social
15. “His” and “Her” Relationships? A Support: Implications for
Review of the Empirical the Measurement of Social
Evidence 273 Support 429
Emily A. Impett Barbara R. Sarason
Letitia Anne Peplau Irwin G. Sarason
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contents vii
2 4. Understanding Couple Conflict 445 34. Intimacy in Personal
Relationships 637
Galena H. Kline
Nicole D. Pleasant Jean-Philippe Laurenceau
Sarah W. Whitton Brighid M. Kleinman
Howard J. Markman
p a r t x
2 5. Sexuality in Close Relationships 463
CONTEXT
Susan Sprecher
F. Scott Christopher
35. Social Networks and Personal
Rodney Cate
Communities 657
Graham Allan
p a r t viii
THREATS TO RELATIONSHIPS 36. Relationships in Home and
Community Environments: A
26. Loneliness and Social Isolation 485
Transactional and Dialectic
Jenny de Jong Gierveld
Analysis 673
Theo van Tilburg
Barbara B. Brown
Pearl A. Dykstra
Carol M. Werner
2 7. Stress in Couples: The Process of Irwin Altman
Dyadic Coping 501
37. Relationships, Culture, and
Carolyn E. Cutrona
Social Change 695
Kelli A. Gardner
Robin Goodwin
2 8. Lying and Deception in Close Urmila Pillay
Relationships 517
38. Personal Relationships: On and
Mark L. Knapp
Off the Internet 709
2 9. Temptations and Threat:
Jeffrey Boase
Extradyadic Relations and
Barry Wellman
Jealousy 533
Abraham P. Buunk p a r t xi
Pieternel Dijkstra
MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR OF
30. Violence and Abuse in Personal RELATIONSHIPS
Relationships: Conflict, Terror,
39. Maintaining Relationships 727
and Resistance in Intimate
Daniel J. Canary
Partnerships 557
Marianne Dainton
Michael P. Johnson
40. The Treatment of Relationship
p a r t ix Distress: Theoretical Perspectives
and Empirical Findings 745
RELATIONAL QUALITIES
Donald H. Baucom
31. Relationship Satisfaction 579
Norman B. Epstein
Frank D. Fincham Susan Stanton
Steven R. H. Beach
p a r t xii
32 . Romantic Love 595
CONCLUSION
Arthur Aron
Helen E. Fisher
41. Bringing It All Together: A
Greg Strong
Theoretical Approach 769
33. Commitment 615
Patricia Noller
Caryl E. Rusbult
Michael K. Coolsen
Author Index 791
Jeffrey L. Kirchner
Jennifer A. Clarke Subject Index 828
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viii
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Preface
For volumes that review the present state tionships was in doubt. As a consequence,
of knowledge in dynamic, rapidly evolv- and to be on the safe side, many of us
ing fields, the label handbook seems only adopted the convention of referring to the
marginally appropriate. When one thinks of relationship field as “emerging,” a practice
a handbook, one visualizes a person hold- noted with exasperation in the late 1980s
ing a plumbing manual in one hand and a by Steve Duck, the editor of the first rela-
wrench in the other and, after the leaky pipe tionship handbook, the Handbook of Per-
has been fixed, putting the manual away for sonal Relationships (1988). In his introduc-
use another day, confident that the princi- tory remarks, Duck took a deep breath
ples of plumbing will not change substan- and dared to declare that the field had
tially from one year to the next or even emerged, putting its birth about 10 years
very much from one decade to the next. earlier, in the late 1970s. A second edition
Relationship science, in contrast, is a large of that first handbook appeared 10 years
and still loosely organized field that con- later (Duck, 1997) and only 3 years after
tinues to expand rapidly in all directions, that a relationship “sourcebook” edited by
its momentum fueled partly by the internal Clyde and Susan Hendrick (2000) was pub-
combustion provided by the theorists and lished. In between and since, several edited
researchers who form the core of the field topical “mini-handbooks” have been pub-
and partly by scholars in other fields who rec- lished, each devoted to a subject of special
ognize the relevance of relationship theory interest to relationship researchers, as Dan
and research to their own problems. Rela- Perlman and Duck note in their historical
tionship science is, in short, a nova in the review chapter in this book.
heavens of the social, behavioral, and bio- The continuing high volume of activity
logical sciences. in the relationship field places a heavy bur-
Not so long ago, the future of a field den on relationship scholars. There is too
devoted to understanding interpersonal rela- much to learn, and far too little time in
ix
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x preface
which to learn it, for most of us to feel that be omitted from their report because they
we have anything but a tenuous grasp of promise to be a waste of time or, of course,
the breadth and depth of the field or more that some researchers invest their resources
than a dim appreciation of its current trajec- more wisely than others. Histories of disci-
tory. There are too many books, too many plines, in fact, are simply accounts of schol-
journal articles, and too many conferences, ars’ bets that paid off. Lost wagers are rarely
preconferences, and workshops for anyone mentioned.
to take in. Hence the need for volumes It is to the prediction of profitable future
that periodically, comprehensively, and con- activities that I address the remainder of
cisely describe current activities in the field – these prefatory remarks because, like it or
handbooks, in other words, or perhaps more not, all scholars must be gamblers. To decide
accurately, status reports – to help us fend where to invest their time, energy, and other
off the feelings of defeat that precede retreat resources, they must make predictions about
into more settled areas of inquiry. the kinds of theoretical, research, and service
activities that are the surest bets to advance
the field. This kind of gambling is a high-
stakes activity, both for the individual and
A Book of Bets for the field, which perhaps is why so many
scholarly conferences devote at least one ses-
In addition to surveying present activities sion to “future directions” or some variant on
in areas of interest to relationship schol- that theme and so many journals periodically
ars, many handbook contributors briefly publish “forecast” articles and issues.
describe the history of the area and some
also attempt to predict its future. Histori-
cal remarks are useful to newcomers to the
field who, entering the relationship movie The Wild Cards
midstream, often wonder how the relation-
ship field got to where it is (and why it took Making accurate predictions about a field’s
so long to get here). Forecasts of profitable future, especially predictions about the spe-
future activities are especially useful to new cific research paths that will yield a sig-
recruits, many of whom are in the process of nificant payoff, is extraordinarily difficult.
deciding where they might most profitably It is hazardous, in fact. My thesis here is
invest their scholarly efforts. A “bookmaker’s that the wild cards that so often trump the
book of bets” is, in fact, a secondary defini- most carefully considered forecasts are dealt
tion of the word handbook (Webster’s Col- by powerful, pervasive, and slow-moving
legiate Dictionary, 10th ed., p. 526). Indeed, macroforces. Because these forces intensify
and apart from the explicit predictions of so gradually (think of a hand in a bucket of
future activity that some handbook con- water in which the temperature is slowly
tributors make, their descriptions of cur- and imperceptibly increased to the boiling
rent activities in a specific problem area can point), they are hard to identify even as they
be viewed as surveys of the bets individual are exerting their massive and inexorable
researchers are currently making – where, in influence on scholars’ activities. I illustrate
other words, one’s colleagues are gambling the point by describing some of the macro-
their professional and personal resources in forces that, I now see in retrospect, were
the expectation that their investments will beginning to gather strength when I became
pay off by advancing relationship knowl- involved in relationship research more than
edge. It perhaps does not need saying that half a century ago.
in performing the triage necessary for a con- The seeds of at least three macroforces
cise report, some surveyors are better than that would influence all of the social and
others in identifying which current activi- behavioral sciences were beginning to ger-
ties are likely to be rewarding and which can minate when, as an undergraduate English