Topic Avoidance in Developing Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Recent work, recognizing that topic avoidance embodies issues central to the field of interpersonal communication, has called for a better understanding of how topic avoidance corresponds with relationship progression. The authors employ a model of relationship development to deduce predictions about how topic avoidance may coincide with intimacy and relational uncertainty. They attend to topic avoidance in terms of the number of topics people avoid and the outcomes they anticipate from communicating about those avoided topics. They report a cross-sectional study in which 216 individuals identified and evaluated topics they avoid within a romantic relationship. With some exceptions, results supported hypotheses predicting that (a) intimacy and topic avoidance share a convex curvilinear association, (b) relational uncertainty and topic avoidance share a positive association, and (c) relational uncertainty mediates the association between intimacy and topic avoidance. They discuss how their findings illuminate topic avoidance within courtship.

Affection Deprivation in Romantic Relationships

“…Dainton and Aylor (2001) found that relational uncertainty was negatively correlated with trust, assurances, and openness. Relational uncertainty has also been found to be associated with more negative appraisals of irritations in the relationship (Solomon & Knobloch, 2004;Theiss & Solomon, 2006), greater experience of jealousy (Afifi & Reichert, 1996;Knobloch, Solomon, & Cruz, 2001;Worley & Samp, 2014), and the use of deception (Emmers & Canary, 1996) and topic avoidance (Knobloch & Carpenter-Theune, 2004). Furthermore, Knobloch and Solomon (2003) found that episodic relational uncertainty was associated with both anger and sadness, while events that increased relational certainty were associated with happiness.…”

The Better Part of Valor: Developing a System for Studying How Couples Transition Out of Untimely Conflict Conversations

“…This was an interesting and somewhat counterintuitive finding, given that most of the empirical research on romantic relationships indicates a strong association between conflict avoidance and relationship dissatisfaction (e.g., Caughlin & Golish, 2002;Golish, 2000;Knobloch & Carpenter-Theune, 2004). Additionally, a recent study on dating couples found that avoidance goals, or efforts to avoid disagreement and conflict within the relationship, were associated with decreases in relationship satisfaction over time (Impett et.…”

The Communicative and Physiological Manifestations of Relational Turbulence During the Empty-Nest Phase of Marital Relationships

“…Along these lines, relational uncertainty is associated with increased topic avoidance (e.g., Knobloch & Carpenter-Theune, 2004). Individuals who are experiencing relational uncertainty tend to perceive relationship talk as threatening to themselves and their relationship (Knobloch & Theiss, 2011) and, consequently, tend to restrict the amount and the openness of relationship talk (Knobloch & Theiss, 2011;Theiss & Knobloch, 2013).…”

“…The second way this study contributes to the model is that it adds depth to the way communication has typically been treated as a marker of turbulence. Prior tests of the relational turbulence model have typically evaluated the mechanisms in the model as predictors of self-reported communication behavior (e.g., Knobloch & Carpenter-Theune, 2004;Theiss & Knobloch, 2013;Theiss & Solomon, 2006a. Here, conflict interactions between spouses were coded by outside observers for the presence of a variety of message features, including topic avoidance, indirectness, withdrawal, criticism, and demandingness.…”