ABSTRACT
What is closeness? And what is a close relationship? Should closeness and close relationships be defined in terms of legal or material properties, such as marital status or economic resources (cf. Sweeney, 2002)? Should these constructs be defined in terms of observable behaviors, such as the frequency with which partners engage in shared activities or exhibit positive reciprocity during everyday conversation (cf. Berscheid, Snyder, & Omoto, 1989; Gottman, 1998)? Should these constructs be construed in terms of mental experiences such as love or satisfaction (cf. Sternberg, 1986) or in terms of personal dispositions such as childhood attachment history (cf. Hazan & Shaver, 1994)? Should we emphasize the process by which partners become increasingly intimate (cf. Reis & Shaver, 1988), examine the progressive merger of partners’ identities (cf. Aron&Aron, 2000), or identify the norms that govern partners’ dealings with one another (cf. Clark & Mills, 1993)?
