"[1] Relationship maintenance can provide wanted outcomes such as safety, friendship, and/or sexual fulfilment.
Canary and Stafford described five communication strategies: positivity, openness, assurances, social networks, and sharing tasks.
Canary and Stafford mentions openness in a way that encourages discussion in a relationship that is filled with direction and goals.
Verbalizing fondness through positive speech might be what one partner craves in a relationship, while another might find more affection in a willingness to help with household chores.
This type of task sharing is also a part of what is known as routine maintenance, and a relatively equal effort by each party is a prosocial function that greatly adds to relationship satisfaction.
They discovered the COMPASS Model which exposed seven main groupings: conflict management, openness, motivation, positivity, advice, support, and social networks.
The COMPASS model was developed based on this analysis and was offered as a theoretical framework for understanding how coaches and athletes might maintain the quality of their relationships.
[6] A recent study on Italians living as couples has shown that friendship relationships, beyond those within an individual's family, are an important source of support.
[7] In the first study of its kind, a University of Kansas professor defined the amount of time necessary to make a friend as well as how long it typically takes to move through the deepening stages of friendship.
Maintaining a friendship can take several forms, such as access to useful information, company (e.g., personal and intimate relationships, time spent talking together, and shared amusement time or meals), and emotional (e.g., advice about a serious personal or family matter) and instrumental (e.g., economic aid, administrative procedures, house-keeping) support.
Last, the rejects-romance group said that they would like the friendship to stay platonic, but the other person wanted it to become romantic.
[16] It may be the quality of the communication rather than the quantity that is most important in keeping a lasting long-distance relationship working.
Businesses have used video conferencing for many years but programs like Skype now allow a personal face-to-face conversation with anyone in the world.
With the technological advancements that have taken place over the past decade, communication has also evolved from handwritten letters to emails and text messaging and significantly shortened response times.
People may use Facebook to plan activities with others, announce new relationships, and provide support and encouragement to those in need.
[4] Casual connections do not need the same amount of attention as close friendships and romantic relationships.
People in a virtual-only relationship may be highly committed to each other and display just as much maintenance behavior as those in close proximity.
[18] People expect others to present themselves on Facebook in a positive manner and even to limit a post of anything that could hurt their own image or that of a friend.
Even if those in a virtual or long-distance relationship do arrange to meet in person, it is usually set up well in advance and allows time to prepare for control of the encounter to reinforce the online image rather than the reality of their life.
Through the technological advancements that have taken place over the past twenty years, communication has evolved from handwritten letters to emails to text messaging to Facebook to Skype, significantly shortening response times with every step.
Phoning somebody to congratulate them on a birthday or anniversary is a deliberate action that shows affection for the other party in a relationship.
For example, if a wife is cleaning up from dinner, and her husband decides to take out the trash, this would be considered a routine maintenance behavior.
The results of the factor analysis yielded five maintenance strategies: positivity, openness, assurances, social networks, and sharing tasks.
Ayers (1983) defined relational maintenance as keeping a relationship in a stable state, thus preventing it from de-escalating or escalating.
The stages of a relationship can be compared to an elevator ride and how it goes either up to higher levels of intimacy, or goes down to termination.
[23] Time spent on each level may differ depending on speed of the relationship or intimacy shared.
In developing and maintaining relationships, there are five stages of escalation: initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, and bonding.
The initiating stage is the shortest and is composed of noticing and forming first impressions based on verbal and non-verbal communication.
The experimenting stage involves finding a common ground by sharing interests and hobbies or other activities.
Partners end their relationship formally and an agreement is reached, usually divorce for marriage situations.