The relationship timeline: A method for the study of shared lived experiences in relational contexts

Abstract

Lifeline methods—graphic illustrations of the pathways of lived experience traveled by individuals from birth to anticipated death—have been useful in the study of lived experience. Existing lifeline methods and research focus on the individual experience; absent from this literature are the collective experiences of those in intimate relationships. In this paper, based on our research with 120 same-sex couples, we present a method to allow for the joint creation of relationship timelines, which serve as the basis for eliciting dyadic data in multiple forms: graphic representations of relationship development through couples’ creation of a timeline of key events and periods; qualitative narratives of couples’ shared experiences; and quantitative ratings of significant events and periods in their lives together. Lessons learned from the application of this Relationship Timeline Method are discussed, as are implications for future study of the shared lived experience.

The Gender‐as‐Relational Approach for Theorizing About Romantic Relationships of Sexual and Gender Minority Mid‐ to Later‐Life Adults

“…We highlight three key methodological strategies: life course methods, daily diary methods, and longitudinal multi‐year data. Life course methods, such as relationship timelines (de Vries et al, ), collect detailed information about the entire course of the relationship, often from when partners first met and including major relationship milestones (e.g., marriage, major illness), and analyze the data quantitatively and qualitatively (Frost et al, ; Thomeer et al, ). This approach allows researchers to examine how gender shapes couple‐level experiences over time, placing events within historical contexts and individual biographies.…”

Active sustainability actors: A life course approach

“…For this reason, it is important to acknowledge the narrative descriptions of events in the context of an actor's life in addition to having a scalable assessment of her life events (de Vries, Suedfeld, Krell, Blando, & Southard, 2005). By integrating an event-based perspective with a personal life course narrative, it is possible to achieve an insider's perspective to an actor's life course (de Vries, 2013;de Vries et al, 2017).…”

“…Hence, the study of life courses allows for the creation of lifelines or timelines by using qualitative narratives about critical events or periods of time in an individual's life (de Vries et al, 2017). It is thus possible to gain meaningful inside information from individuals through their life courses and to create "life event maps" that represent meaningful life events (de Vries et al, 2017). In this paper, "narratives" refer to a body of events and the contextual details surrounding those events' occurrence (Bartel & Garud, 2009;Bruner, 1986;Czarniawska, 1997;Pentland, 1999).…”

Measuring a New Stress Domain: Validation of the Couple-Level Minority Stress Scale

“…They may also face such challenges togetheras couplesbecause their relationship represents a stigmatized relationship form. The stigmatization of a relationship form (i.e., same-sex couples) is the source of this domain of minority stress, which is only beginning to be empirically examined (LeBlanc, Frost, & Wight, 2015;Frost, LeBlanc, de Vries, Alston-Stepnitz, Stephenson, & Woodyatt, 2017). The current study reports the development, testing, and validation of a new, multi-dimensional measure of couple-level minority stress, the Couple-Level Minority Stress Scale (hereafter abbreviated as CLMS).…”

“…Distinguishing between individual-and couple-level sources of social stress allows for deeper understandings of stress experiences, as well as of how stress can be shared among individuals in the context of their intimate relationships (LeBlanc, et al, 2015;Frost, et al, 2017). Individual-level minority stress emanates from society's stigmatization of the individual (e.g., as a gay man), while couple-level minority stress emanates from society's stigmatization of one's relationship, in and of itself (e.g., as two women in same-sex legal marriage).…”