278 Benefits and Maintenance of Friendships
These results clearly suggest that the underlying motivation, and perceptions of
friend’s motive, for engaging in maintenance behaviors has implications for their
effectiveness and ultimately the friendship satisfaction. Behaviors that are engaged
in routinely correlate positively with relationship satisfaction and commitment, as
well as with the variables that are consistent with supporting relationship satisfac-
tion and commitment. In contrast, engaging in these behaviors with strategic inten-
tion does not contribute to the friendship satisfaction and commitment and may in
fact have the opposite effects. Perceiving that one’s friend is strategically engaging
in these behaviors was associated with increased alternatives and decreased satisfac-
tion, costs, commitments, and investments. These findings are similar to the results
presented by Dainton and Aylor (2002) findings that routine use of relational main-
tenance strategies accounted for a larger percentage of the variance in relationship
satisfaction and commitment than did strategic maintenance in romantic relation-
ships. Although not tested, it is possible that strategic maintenance behaviors may
be seen as manipulative or perhaps signaling an exchange orientation to the rela-
tionship. However, routine behaviors might be perceived as signaling a communal
orientation to the relationship and through that mechanism contribute to greater
friendship satisfaction and commitment.
It is also important to consider, theoretically, who is most effective at maintain-
ing friendships. Theoretical frameworks that take into account people’s orientations
toward relationships may be useful for understanding their use of relationship main-
tenance behaviors. For example, it has been suggested that people who have com-
munal or interdependent approaches to relationships may be more likely to engage
in relationship maintenance behavior (see Ledbetter, 2013; Ledbetter, Stassen,
Muhammad, & Kotey, 2010; Mattingly, Oswald & Clark, 2011). One proposed
theoretical framework useful for studying relationship maintenance (Ledbetter,
2010) is the inclusion of other in self model (Aron, Aron, Tudor, & Nelson, 1991).
From this perspective, friendship closeness is in part developed from including the
friend as part of one’s own self. Ledbetter and colleagues (2010) argue that rela-
tional maintenance behaviors are “acts that foster perceptions of shared resources,
identities, and perspectives” (p. 22), which are core parts of including the friend in
one’s sense of self.
In a qualitative study of relational maintenance behaviors within the context of
a romantic relationship, Ledbetter and colleagues (2010) argued that a number of
maintenance behaviors facilitate the inclusion of other in self. For example, sharing
resources such as finances and helping with shared tasks are maintenance behav-
iors that reflect the concept of shared resources. Maintenance behaviors of physical
contact, expressions of affection, and managing conflict can contribute to a shared
identity. Maintenance behaviors of casual conversation, use of humor, intimate con-
versations, and shared time all contributed to shared perspectives between the indi-
viduals in the relationship. Subsequent research has found that these maintenance
behaviors positively correlate with the Inclusion of Other in Self Scale (Ledbetter,