Developmental Stages Of Relationships Essay

The ten developmental stages of a relationship can be used to pinpoint exactly where two individuals are within their relationship. The ten stages; initiating, experimenting, intensifying, integrating, bonding, differentiating, circumscribing, stagnating, avoiding, and terminating, describe the coming together of a relationship, the normal maintenance of said relationship, and finally the coming apart of the relationship. My closest friendship is in the integrating stage as overtime we have developed similar identities to one another and are constantly with one another every day. An example within the book is “Sure, we’ll spend Thanksgiving with your family,” which I find amusing because last year I was invited over to both his family’s Thanksgiving

A less common example than those is that we both got into working out the same time and still work out together almost every day giving one another motivation to pass our limits and get stronger. The main reasoning behind stating that we are in the integrating stage rather than the intensifying stage is that the intensifying stage is described more as a buildup where two individuals start hanging out together more, are more honest with one another, and go on trips together, as such in my opinion my friendship has since passed said stage. We went through the intensifying stage during High School, an example of being in that stage was during one fall break we drove to Clarksville, ate at some of the highest rated restaurants, explored the historic downtown, and looked at car dealerships that we didn’t have in Paducah. Though, I do not believe that our relationship is in the bonding stage as the book describes the bonding stage as something much more committed and intimate with phrases such as “life partners.” My interpretation of the bonding stage is that it can best be associated with a marital relationship with a few exceptions such as business partnerships, fraternities/sororities, and some ceremonial