Essay On Relationship Relationships

This article was selected from the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 2, in 2009, from page 137-164 and is titled “Linking Relationship quality to perceived mutuality of relationship goals and perceived goal progress.” The authors are Yael E. Avivi, Jean-Philippe Laurenceau and Charles S. Carver. The focus of this article is examining relationship quality outcomes based upon perceived mutual goals and perceived progress toward achieving those goals. I selected this article because interpersonal romantic relationships are among the most common relationships that most of us will engage in. This type of relationship can be what brings us the most joy and fulfillment within our lives or can leave us feeling the most hurt

This group was also culturally diverse, in the same age range, 20.29 for men and 19.28 for women, and provided the same predominant status of dating but considered the relationship to be committed for an average length of 8.49 months. This group participated using an additional tool, they were also asked to maintain a daily diary to provide a more immediate observation of the relationship rather than an overall feeling of quality. The second study provided similar outcomes to the first but also provided data on both global relationship perceptions as well as daily perceptions. The determination made in the discussion of results showed that “goal progress, in turn, functions as the more proximal predictor of the subjective relationship outcome” (Avivi et al. 159). I found this article to be straightforward and on topic with the purpose of the study. What impressed me most is that the purpose was to identify the importance of perception, which is not something that is tangible or can be easily identified. This is truly about what people “believed” is happening, not always what is “actually” happening. In the beginning of the article they even stated “We believe there could be some benefits to having a shared sense of direction in life-a sense of communion, that are present regardless of whether progress is made” (Avivi et al.