ABSTRACT
Relational maintenance is a new term in personal relationships research, denoting studies that explicitly address what partners do to maintain their relationships. Although the extant research on relational stability and satisfaction may not use the term “relational maintenance,” it has major implications for what partners do (or should do) to maintain their relationships. Similarly, while many of the chapters in this volume do not explicitly address the issue of relational maintenance, the subjects that they discuss nevertheless have implications for what partners do (or should do) to maintain their relationships.
