"Communication and Relational Maintenance" addresses the question, "How do people maintain their personal relationships?" Unlike the published works in this field that focus on relationship initiation or dissolution, this volume discusses the everyday processes used to maintain an on-going relationship. It discusses interpersonal communication, social-psychological factors relevant to maintenance, and the resolution of conflict. It focuses on everyday processes used to sustain personal relationships. It analyzes how communication skills affect relationship function. It discusses factors promoting marital stability and satisfaction. It elaborates upon the means and mechanisms for conflict resolution. It identifies dialectical approaches to the study of relationships.

This text offers a research-based, accessible analysis of how people can manage conflict productively. Moving beyond the basics of conflict, it examines interpersonal situations in which conflict occurs and promotes strategic communicative responses, based on communication research. Daniel J. Canary and his colleagues base the principles for conflict management on the latest theoretical research, and add personal observations, media examples, and samples of actual interaction to provide concrete illustrations of the research findings. It provides students with the tools to understand conflict in real-world contexts.

This text offers a research-based, accessible analysis of how people can manage conflict productively. Moving beyond the basics of conflict, it examines interpersonal situations in which conflict occurs and promotes strategic communicative responses, based on communication research. Daniel J. Canary and his colleagues base the principles for conflict management on the latest theoretical research, and add personal observations, media examples, and samples of actual interaction to provide concrete illustrations of the research findings. It provides students with the tools to understand conflict in real-world contexts.

"Sex Differences and Similarities in Communication "offers a thorough exploration of sex differences in how men and women communicate, set within the context of sex similarities, offering a balanced examination of the topic. The contents of this distinctive volume frame the conversation regarding the extent to which sex differences are found in social behavior, and emphasize different theoretical perspectives on the topic. Chapter contributors examine how sex differences and similarities can be seen in various verbal and nonverbal communicative behaviors across contexts, and focus on communication behavior in romantic relationships. The work included here represents recent research on the topic across various disciplines, including communication, social psychology, sociology, linguistics, and organizational behavior, by scholars well-known for their work in this area.
In this second edition, some chapters present new perspectives on sex/gender and communication; others present substantially revised versions of earlier chapters. All chapters have a stronger theoretical orientation and are based on a wider range of empirical data than those in the first edition. Readers in communication, social psychology, relationships, and related fields will find much of interest in this second edition. The volume will serve as a text for students in advanced coursework as well as a reference for practitioners interested in research-based conclusions regarding sex differences in communicative behavior.

The Communication Capstone: The Communication Inquiry and Theory Experience (CITE) is the first textbook explicitly designed for graduating seniors in a Communication Capstone course, whether taught in small or large sections, or taught as a conceptual review or as a project- or skills-based course. The text features chapters authored by active, well-published, and award-winning scholars and teachers in their respective areas of study. CITE is built on an integrated approach that moves across four conceptually-ordered units: -Knowing Who We Are and Where We've Been: The history of the discipline and orienting principles of the communication process -Knowing How We Know What We (Claim to) Know: Theoretical and methodological paradigms -Knowing Where We Are and What Our Communication Is Doing: Core functions and contexts of communication, including as exemplars chapters on: interpersonal, gender, argument and persuasion, conflict, organizational and leadership, health communication, intercultural communication, political communication, and mass and mediated communication -Knowing Why Knowing About Communication Matters: Careers and opportunities available to those who study communication Mastery of the knowledge base in CITE, facilitated by the assessment-oriented student learning objectives that introduce each chapter, represents solid evidence that students have learned a core and specifiable set of knowledge in the field.

Sex Differences and Similarities in Communication offers a thorough exploration of sex differences in how men and women communicate, set within the context of sex similarities, offering a balanced examination of the topic. The contents of this distinctive volume frame the conversation regarding the extent to which sex differences are found in social behavior, and emphasize different theoretical perspectives on the topic. Chapter contributors examine how sex differences and similarities can be seen in various verbal and nonverbal communicative behaviors across contexts, and focus on communication behavior in romantic relationships. The work included here represents recent research on the topic across various disciplines, including communication, social psychology, sociology, linguistics, and organizational behavior, by scholars well-known for their work in this area. In this second edition, some chapters present new perspectives on sex/gender and communication; others present substantially revised versions of earlier chapters. All chapters have a stronger theoretical orientation and are based on a wider range of empirical data than those in the first edition. Readers in communication, social psychology, relationships, and related fields will find much of interest in this second edition. The volume will serve as a text for students in advanced coursework as well as a reference for practitioners interested in research-based conclusions regarding sex differences in communicative behavior.

A Comprehensive Guide to Studying and Interpreting Communication Interaction This practical book provides students and experienced researchers with tools for studying communication behaviors through direct observation. The sourcebook provides sound coverage of both cutting-edge and well-established systems, measurements, and procedures, as well as detailed information on measurement selection, coding, reliability assessment, and analysis. In addition to offering theoretical discussions from leading researchers in the field, each chapter also focuses on how to apply systems and principles in conducting actual original research and uses examples and exemplars to help readers understand and apply the methods.

"Relationship Conflict is an excellent contribution in the tradition of Sage's series on close relationships. Like the other books in this series, Relationship Conflict provides a concise and compelling synthesis of research and thinking on a particular aspect of intimate relationships. In this case, Daniel J. Canary, William R. Cupach, and Susan J. Messman provide an accounting of conflict of text. As such, this volume constitutes the perfect companion text to undergraduate courses on interpersonal conflict. The clarification of definitions of conflict and approaches to studying conflict in chapter one is a particularly useful framework for organizing the wealth of research on relationship conflict. Similarly, the review of methods for studying conflict in chapter two is a concise assessment of the pros and cons of different methodologies. The remaining chapters nicely synthesize research illuminating conflict in parent-child, friendship, dating, and marital relationship contexts. The consistent limitation in traditional textbooks for the undergraduate course in interpersonal conflict is a failure to include a review of research on conflict in different relationship contexts; Relationship Conflict fills that gap and quite satisfactorily." --Denise H. Cloven in Personal Relationship Issues "The theories, research, analysis, and conclusions will interest a wide range of readers in communication, family studies, psychology, and sociology. Graduate through professional." --Choice "This is an excellent book which should be read by all those in the business of helping couples in their relationships. I can also see a clear role for parts of this book... as providing the basic reading for training seminars." --Padmal de Silva in Sexual and Marital Therapy "My favorite features of the book are the inclusion of different types of relationships and a developmental perspective on relationship conflict. . . . Relationship Conflict provides an easily readable overview for those newly interested in interpersonal conflict and for those working on conflict in formal or business relationships." --Renate Klein in Journal of Marriage and the Family Conflict is a natural, even inevitable, aspect of most ongoing close relationships--a given. What distinguishes most successful relationships from unsuccessful ones is not the absence of conflict, but how conflict is managed. Relationship Conflict skillfully portrays the different types of conflict that we encounter in our most significant personal relationships: parent-child, friendship, and romantic relationships. The authors capture the essence of current research and theory to shed light on conflict's role in human interaction. Drawing from the findings of multiple disciplines, this volume takes a developmental look at childhood friendships through dating to married relationships. The result is a richer understanding of interpersonal involvement that is accessible to close relationship researchers and professionals and students in many service-based fields. Relationship Conflict provides up-to-date information on interpersonal conflict pertinent to many different disciplines: researchers as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students in communication, family studies and human development, and sociology and professionals in psychology, social work, and nursing.

Relational maintenance provides a rallying point for those seeking to discover the behaviors that individuals utilize to sustain their personal relationships. Theoretical models, research programs, and specific studies have examined how people in a variety of close relationships choose to define and maintain those relationships. In addition, relational maintenance turns our attention to communicative processes that help people sustain their close relationships.
In this collection, editors Daniel J. Canary and Marianne Dainton focus on the communicative processes critical to the maintenance and enhancement of personal relationships. The volume considers variations in maintaining different types of personal relationships; structural constraints on relationship maintenance; and cultural variations in relational maintenance. Contributions to the volume cover a broad range of relational types, including romantic relationships, family relationships, long-distance relationships, workplace relationships, and Gay and Lesbian relationships, among others.
"Maintaining Relationships Through Communication: Relational, Contextual, and Cultural Variations" synthesizes current research in relationship maintenance, emphasizes the ways that behaviors vary in their maintenance functions across relational contexts, discusses alternative explanations for maintaining relationships, and presents avenues for future research. As such, it is intended for students and scholars studying interpersonal communication and personal relationships.