Relational Transitions: An Inquiry into their Structure and Function

Abstract

Over the years there has been a persistent concern over the nature of relational transitions, the use of case study methods to investigate them, and a phenomenology of relationship partners. In this study, these three concerns were brought together and a structural analysis was performed on two spouses' narrative accounts of their near divorce. The analysis indicated (1) that the two accounts had a common underlying structure involving four types of episodes: Anticipation, Separation, Discovery and Reconciliation; (2) that the structure of the accounts was marked by three types of dialectical oppositions: affect, intimacy and time; and (3) that the period of relational transition was a time for the establishment of new meanings and new rules for relational practice. Further research was suggested on the role of crisis in relational regeneration.