Five Stages of Interpersonal Relationships

963 Words2 Pages

My first interview was with, Jennifer she is a married 29 year old, with one child. They have been married for five years. The relationship she is in seems to fall right into place with the five stages of interpersonal relationships that are in the book: Contact, involvement, intimacy, deterioration, and repair. The relationship seems to be built on a solid foundation of trust.

The relationship started when the two met in college. The attraction theory was in effect when she saw his muscular body and great smile as he stared at her with his soft and genuine eyes. She thinks that her casual confident attitude, as well as her large smile is what attracted him to her. The involvement stage was underway when he asked her out for one date that led to many more. The found they had many things in common personality wise and became very comfortable in each other’s company. As the intimacy levels rose and when the social penetration theory started to take hold the problems began as their conversations started getting more in dept he started to withdraw. One of the flaws that Jennifer finds in her husband is that when something is making him uncomfortable then he does not like to talk about it, and usually becomes sarcastic and does not communicate very well. Disclosing things about his past was a risk that he was not willing to take with Jennifer. Jennifer was sure that the relationship was going to end because they started to become complacent with each other and the intima...

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