A meta-analytic review of relationship maintenance and its correlates

Abstract

This meta-analysis examines the five factors from the Relational Maintenance Strategies Measure (RMSM, i.e., positivity, openness, assurances, social networks, and sharing tasks) and their associations with satisfaction, commitment, control mutuality, love, liking, and relationship duration. Across 35 studies (N ¼ 12,273 participants), results showed positive correlations between the maintenance factors and the relational correlates except relationship duration, which was negatively associated with positivity and assurances and unassociated with openness, social networks, and sharing tasks. Moderator analyses showed differences in effect sizes depending upon measure (i.e., RMSM or a revision), reporter (i.e., perceptions of partner's maintenance or individuals' own enactment of maintenance), and biological sex. Effect sizes were generally larger for women than men and when studies used the RMSM and perceptions of the partner's maintenance.

Understanding the Role of Relationship Maintenance in Enduring Couple Partnerships in Later Adulthood

“…Yet, no significant differences in the number or type of maintenance strategies (Dindia & Baxter, 1987) and only weak associations related to perception of relationship maintenance (Stafford & Canary, 1991) by gender were found in early studies. Socio-historical context is important here, and in a more recent meta-analysis, Ogolsky and Bowers (2012) found that the types of relationship maintenance strategies differed by respondents' sex. Measurement as well as the issue of self-report plays a role in the differential findings, but further research is also needed.…”

“…A number of factors related to relationship satisfaction have been extensively studied, such as psychological well-being (Walker et al, 2013), but a burgeoning area of research centers on relationship maintenance, which has also been found to be associated with relationship satisfaction (e.g., Ogolsky & Bowers, 2012;Stafford, Dainton, & Haas, 2000). Relationship maintenance can be defined as those actions that support the continuance of the relationship (Davis, 1973).…”

“…Another key factor is relationship duration, which is negatively associated with both relationship satisfaction (Brown & Kawamura, 2010) and relationship maintenance (Dindia & Baxter, 1987). A recent meta-analysis found that relationship duration was related to a decrease in three specific types of maintenance strategies-positivity, openness, and assurances (Ogolsky & Bowers, 2012). This may be indicative of "a general drift toward decline in marital quality with increasing years of marriage perhaps suggest[ing] that relationship maintenance and repair repertoires atrophy with time" (Dindia & Baxter, 1987, p. 146).…”

“…One aim of this study, therefore, was to extend the knowledge base on enduring relationships in later adulthood by exploring the contributors to relationship maintenance amongst a large, international sample of community dwelling participants. Given that past studies have pointed to the role of length of the relationship (Dindia & Baxter, 1987), children at home (Umberson et al, 2005), gender (Ogolsky & Bowers, 2012), religious beliefs (Sabey et al, 2014), and well-being (Proulx et al, 2007) as contributors to relationship maintenance and/or relationship satisfaction, we have included these variables to frame the current study. Specifically, we sought to explore which factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, contribute to relationship maintenance amongst older couples and what behaviors are used to support the endurance of their relationships.…”

Understanding Everyday Relationship Work: The Development of a Relationship Maintenance Scale

“…On the other hand, these behaviors may be unintentional or routine in nature, but still help to sustain the relationship. Given that research has substantiated the importance of a mutually rewarding relationship, where the quality of the relationship includes reciprocal assertions and positive interactions (Ogolsky & Bowers, 2012), measurement is a key issue. Utilizing Dainton and Stafford's (1993) framework along with findings from the literature, we conceptualized relationship maintenance as the degree to which routine relationship behaviors are intentionally or unintentionally used to sustain an intimate relationship.…”