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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| Themes of Relational Communication | |
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| Personal Relationships Are Distinct | |
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| Human Choices Influence Personal Relationships | |
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| Communication Is a Primary Influence on Personal Relationships | |
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| Personal Relationships Are Processes | |
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| Overview of Relational Communication | |
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| The Chapters That Follow | |
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| Gender and Sex in Personal Relationships | |
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| A Personal Introduction | |
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| Conceptual Foundations For Studying Personal Relationships | |
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| Communication and Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| About This Book | |
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| Defining Personal Relationships | |
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| Continuing, Significant Interdependence | |
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| Between Particular Individuals | |
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| Voluntary Commitment | |
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| Continuously in Process | |
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| First Insights into Personal Relationships | |
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| Personal Relationships Vary | |
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| Personal Relationships Affect Identity | |
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| Personal Relationships Share Common Features | |
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| Influences on Personal Relationships | |
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| Assuming Agency | |
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| Acting on Knowledge | |
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| Ensuring Mutual Commitment and Investment | |
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| Dealing with Uncertainty | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| Theoretical Insights into Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| Theorizing Society | |
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| Mind | |
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| Self | |
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| The Generalized Other | |
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| Theorizing Social Communities | |
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| Standpoint Theory | |
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| Attachment Theory | |
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| Theorizing Individuals | |
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| Constructivism or Social Cognition Theory | |
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| Changes in Scripts | |
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| Theorizing Relationship Dynamics | |
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| Systems Theory | |
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| Social Exchange Theory | |
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| Dialectical Theory | |
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| Turning Points | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| Communication: The Central Dynamic in Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| Communication as Symbolic Interaction | |
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| Symbols | |
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| Symbols and Meaning | |
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| Premises About Communication | |
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| Communication Is Rule Guided | |
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| Communication Involves Two Levels of Meaning | |
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| Individuals Punctuate Communication | |
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| Contexts of Communication Affect Meanings | |
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| Meanings Are Not Necessarily Shared by Partners | |
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| Listening Is at Least as Important as Talking | |
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| Metacommunication Can Improve Relationships | |
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| Dual Perspective Is Critical for Effective Communication in Personal Relationships | |
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| Communication Is Not Always Consistent | |
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| In Personal Relationships, Partners Affect Each Other | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| Relational Culture: The Nucleus of Intimacy | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| Relational Culture | |
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| Defining Relational Culture | |
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| Features of Relational Culture | |
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| Central Dynamics of Relational Culture | |
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| Relational Dialectical Processes | |
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| Responding to Dialectics | |
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| Organizing Structures | |
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| Symbolic Practices | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| The Social Context of Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| The Best and Worst of Times | |
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| Culture as a Context of Intimacy | |
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| Cultures Legitimate Only Some Personal Relationships | |
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| Sex Roles in Relationships | |
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| Changes in Cultural Views of Relationships | |
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| Current Social Trends | |
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| Technology | |
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| Mobility | |
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| Acceleration | |
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| Transience as a Way of Life | |
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| Diversity | |
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| Pluralistic Values | |
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| Proliferating Family Forms | |
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| Reconfiguring Personal Identity | |
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| Relational Selves | |
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| Saturated Selves | |
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| Affirming Personal Agency | |
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| Influence, Not Determination | |
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| The Agency of Relational Selves | |
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| Catching Ourselves | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| The Evolution of Personal Relationships | |
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| Launching Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| A Developmental Perspective on Intimacy | |
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| Initial Developmental Thinking: Linear, External Models | |
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| Individual Interpretations of Relationship Development | |
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| Turning Points | |
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| Sources of Relationship Knowledge | |
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| Initial Interaction: The Genesis of Relationships | |
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| Attraction | |
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| Communicating Interest | |
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| Interpreting Others | |
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| Explorational Communication: Reducing Uncertainty | |
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| Breadth of Information | |
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| Depth of Information | |
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| Developmental Dialogue | |
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| Tendencies in Early Relationship Development | |
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| Features of Early Interaction | |
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| Complications of Early Interaction | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| Committing to Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| Passionate Love and Commitment: Different Issues | |
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| Companionate Features | |
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| Sex Differences | |
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| Styles of Love | |
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| Primary Styles of Love | |
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| Secondary Styles of Love | |
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| Understanding Your Love Style | |
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| Communication Processes During Committing | |
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| Private Intensifying | |
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| Personalized Communication | |
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| Idealizing | |
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| Building Relational Culture | |
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| Publicizing the Relationship | |
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| Intimate Commitment | |
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| Preparing to Commit | |
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| The Meaning of Commitment | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| Maintaining and Repairing Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| Alternative Approaches to Relationship Continuity | |
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| Early Approaches to Relationship Continuity | |
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| Social Exchange | |
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| A Dialogical Approach | |
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| Everyday Rhythms in Personal Relationships | |
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| Routines for Contact | |
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| Common Involvements | |
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| Patterns of Interaction | |
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| Everyday Talk | |
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| Reflection | |
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| Managing Disagreements | |
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| Revitalizing Relationships | |
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| Dynamic Equilibrium: Change as Constant | |
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| Sources of Relationship Change | |
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| Systemic Change | |
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| Strategies to Maintain and Repair Relationships | |
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| Maintaining Relationships | |
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| Repairing Relationships | |
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| Gendered Standpoints on Personal Relationships | |
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| Feminine Standpoints on Personal Relationships | |
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| Masculine Standpoints on Personal Relationships | |
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| Tensions Between Gendered Views of Relationships | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| Transforming and Ending Personal Relationships | |
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| Key Concepts | |
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| Processes of Relationship Deterioration | |
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| Dyadic Breakdown | |
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| Intrapsychic Phase | |
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| Dyadic Phase | |
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| Social Phase | |
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| Grave Dressing | |
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| Symptoms and Sources of Decline in Personal Relationships | |
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| Deterioration in Communication | |
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| Destructive Conflict | |
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| Changes in Standards for Evaluating Relationships | |
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| Major Transgressions | |
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| Inequity | |
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| Partners' Reflections | |
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| Ending and Redefining Personal Relationships | |
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| Parting Ways | |
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| Living with Languished Intimacy | |
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| Trial Separations (Recess) | |
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| Suspending Interaction | |
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| Transforming Personal Relationships | |
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| Summary | |
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| For Further Reflection and Discussion | |
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| Recommended Readings | |
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| Summing Up: Communication, Choice, Commitment, and Change in Personal Relationships | |
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| Communication | |
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| Communication Creates Identity | |
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| Communication Creates Personal Relationships | |
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| Choice | |
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| Responsibility | |
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| "Small" Choices | |
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| Commitment | |
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| Change | |
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| Personal Changes | |
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| Relationship Changes | |
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| Cultural Changes | |
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| Glossary | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |