ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on each of the dimensions and contextual levels. In the process, a framework is developed that illustrates what is known so far, and where research should be headed in communication and relational maintenance. The distinction between constructive and destructive maintenance strategies is not new; L. A. Baxter and K. Dindia asked married couples to sort maintenance strategies and found three underlying dimensions constructive versus destructive, ambivalence versus satiated use, and proactivity versus passivity. D. J. Canary and L. Stafford suggested that non-interactive processes complement interactive processes in relational maintenance. These authors looked specifically at how an individual's locus of control affects the maintenance process. Even within a Western perspective, which privileges the systemic context when considering relational maintenance, other contexts are important, and are likely to have reciprocal influences with systemic efforts. Social exchange theories also have not been consistently used to explain both intentional and unintentional maintenance efforts.