1. By Hilary Dion & Jennifer Chabot
Relational Maintenance
Within Families
How We Stay Connected

2. What is “Relational
Maintenance”?
The ways in which family members work towards
keeping positive and functional relationships
with each other, and the efforts put forth in order
to maintain a level of connectedness.

3. Different Types of
Maintenance
Marital/Partnership Relational Maintenance
Parent/Child Relational Maintenance
Sibling/Relational Maintenance

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Many couples, married or not, struggle with
staying connected at some point throughout the
relationship. This can be due to loss of interest,
increased stress from internal or external factors.
“Over time, romance moves into reality.” (p.107)

5. Strategies for Strong Ties
in Romantic Relationships
in Romantic Relationships
If a romantic relationship is in a stage of
stagnancy, use these strategies to keep the mood
uplifting:
­ Be Positive
­ Be Open
­ Give Assurance
­ Use Social Networks
­ Share Tasks

6. Word of Warning
Although they can be useful, social networking
websites like Facebook and Twitter can also be
silent killers with sketchy features such as shady
friend requests, private messages, and “stalking”.

7. Parent/Child Maintenance
The book details an interesting (and true)
concept, that relationships begin in a state of
vertical development, and eventually, as we get
older, morph into a horizontal one, where
mutual effort and maintenance is require. (p.
109)
Parent/Child relationships can become
complicated and generally require more effort to
maintain when step-relatives enter the mix.

8. Sibling Maintenance
The relationships between siblings have been
proven to be the longest relationships one will
ever have, especially if two siblings are close in
age.
The can sometimes prove to be a challenge as we
grow up, as siblings sometimes get separated
across the country and develop their own
families.

9. Strategies for Strong Ties
in Familial Relationships
in Familial Relationships
Confirmation
Recognition
Acceptance
Rituals

10. Types of Rituals
Family Celebrations
Family Traditions
Patterned Family
Interactions
Couple Rituals

11. Couple Rituals
Couple Time
Idiosyncratic/Symbolic
Daily Routines/Tasks
Intimacy Expressions
Communication
Patterns/Habits/Mannerisms
Spiritual

12. Negative Rituals
In order to avoid dealing with problems at home,
people may choose to engage in negative rituals
in order to distract themselves, such as drinking
heavily. Physical, mental or sexual abuse can also
be considered negative rituals.

13. Types of Currencies
Some relational currencies are straight-forward
in meaning, and are easier

14. Meanings of Currencies

15. Survey Results
How do you stay in touch with family?

16. Survey Results Cont.
Apart from social
networking, which
of the following do
you use to keep in
touch with family?

17. Works Cited
Coy, Whitney. Family Traditions. 2010. Photograph. N.p.
Galvin, Kathleen M., Carma Lee. Bylund, and Bernard J. Brommel. "Chapter 5 -
Relational Maintenance within Families." Family Communication: Cohesion and
Change. 8th ed. Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon, 2012. N. pag. Print.
"Relational Maintenance Survey." Personal interview. 19 Sept. 2013.