A Developmental Guide to the Organisation of Close Relationships

Relationship Pathways: From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2005

Recent advances in the study of close relationships hold the potential for new insignts into the significance of interdependence and the mechanism of relationship influence. The papers in this special issue apply two new data analytic techniques to the study of family and friend relationships. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model incorporates the perspectives of both participants in a dyad into analyses that describe shared and unique views of the relationship. The Social Relations Model incorporates the perspectives of all members of a group into analyses that ascribe views unique to individuals and relationships, and views shared by the entire group. Developmental applications of techniques originally designed for concurrent interdependent data are described with the aim of advancing these analytic procedures to the study of lifespan human development.

This study investigates the utility of Relational Model Theory (RMT) for the study of interpersonal relationships. By testing predictions made by RMT for three different relationships (mother, close friend, acquaintance) it is shown that RMT is compatible with the current state of knowledge in the field of interpersonal communication and a viable alternative to other cognitive theories of relationships. Through a closer investigation of different relationship domains, it is shown that the categorical representation of social knowledge as proposed in RMT is in fact superior explanation to traditional cognitive theories that propose dimensional representations. In addition, applying RMT to interpersonal relationships yields new and detailed insights into the structure of some of our most important interpersonal relationships.

2011

The development of relationships with significant others is one of the most important tasks that an individual encounters in his/her lifetime. According to Hinde (1987; 1997), relationships are ongoing patterns of interaction between two individuals who acknowledge some connection with each other. In the case of children and adolescents, the social partners with whom interaction is most frequently experienced include parents, siblings, and peers. From Hinde's and Stevenson-Hinde's perspective (see Chapter 1, Figure 1), individuals bring to social exchanges, reasonably stable social orientations (temperament; personality) that dispose them to be more or less sociable, agreeable, and able to regulate their emotions. These social orientations are, in part, biologically based, but they are also the product of interactions with others. It is through their individual dispositions and social interactions that children come to develop a repertoire of social-cognitions that aid in the understanding the thoughts, emotions, and intentions of others; and together, these factors create opportunities for the development of social skills and competencies. Significantly, the interactions that children have with others are not scattershot. Most early interactions occur with parents and siblings (and in some cultures, with grandparents and extended family members-aunts, uncles, cousins); subsequently, children's extra-familial interactions most often occur with peers, particularly friends. Thus, most social interactions are embedded in longer-term relationships; moreover, these interactions are influenced by past and anticipated future interactions with their relationship partners. The quality of these relationships is actually defined, in large part, by the characteristics of the partners and the interactions that occur between them. Based on the tenets of attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969), the kinds of relationships individuals form

This study investigates the utility of Relational Model Theory (RMT) for the study of interpersonal relationships. By testing predictions made by RMT for three different relationships (mother, close friend, acquaintance) it is shown that RMT is compatible with the current state of knowledge in the field of interpersonal communication and a viable alternative to other cognitive theories of relationships. Through a closer investigation of different relationship domains, it is shown that the categorical representation of social knowledge as proposed in RMT is in fact superior explanation to traditional cognitive theories that propose dimensional representations. In addition, applying RMT to interpersonal relationships yields new and detailed insights into the structure of some of our most important interpersonal relationships.

Attachment & Human …, 2001

Attachment theory suggests, first, that patterns of dyadic behavior cohere across salient relationships and, second, that such linkages are mediated by working models, defined as cognitive/emotional representations of relationships abstracted from dyadic experience. In this longitudinal study, adolescents' (age 19) Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) coherence and classifications (e.g., working model proxies) were related prospectively to their observed dyadic behaviors with romantic partners in young adulthood (age 20-21). Results demonstrated significant associations between adolescents' representations of their childhood relationships with parents and the later quality of their interactions with romantic partners. Next, a model was tested whereby participants' working models, as inferred from the AAI, mediate the across-time correlation between a sub-set of observationally assessed parent-child dyadic behaviors (age 13) and the romantic relationship behaviors of these participants eight years later in young adulthood (age 20-21). Results of mediational analyses were consistent with the fundamental tenet of the organizational-developmental model that salient parent-child experiences are internalized and carried forward into adult relationships.

This study was informed by J. Bowlby’s theory of attachment and G. Kelly’s theory of personal constructs. The goal was to explore how adults interpret the influences of the important relationships in their childhood on later life. The thematic analysis was chosen as a method of studying the pre-recorded and transcribed materials. The findings revealed that adults are able both to consciously analyse their connections to early carers and to notice how the issues in these relationships have influenced their choices in life.

The Development of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence

An enduring hypothesis in the history of psychology is the notion that early caregiving experiences provide the prototype for later significant relationships. Although this hypothesis often has been extended to adult love relationships, compelling models of developmental processes that would account for continuity in relationship characteristics over so long a period are still needed. We propose a developmental view of the development of a capacity for intimacy in which distinct relational experiences are linked across time. Drawing on experiences and findings from a twenty-year longitudinal study of relationships and development, we illustrate evidence for intervening links during childhood and adolescence that eventually may predict the quality and significance of romantic relationships among young adults. We give particular attention to the importance of intervening links between early caregiving relationships and developing friendship capacities throughout middle childhood and adolescence. We then speculate about the links between the implications of different patterns of childhood closeness for adolescents' orientations to dating, romantic relationships, and transitory sexual liaisons. Finally, we propose criteria for future research that would advance understanding of the development of capacities for intimate relationships.

International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1997

Annual Review of Psychology, 2010

The goal of this special issue is to take stock of attachment theory and research as it applies to adolescent and adult relationships. We briefly summarize and comment on the 12 articles included in the issue, placing them into four thematic categories: (i) attachment theory and research viewed from a life history perspective; (ii) biological bases of attachment processes; (iii) relations between the attachment system and other behavioral systems; and (iv) extensions of attachment research in applied directions. Taken together, the 12 articles provide an exciting foundation for future research on attachment and further development of attachment theory.