Turning points and commitment in post‐divorce relationships

Changes in Friendship Commitment: Comparing Geographically Close and Long-Distance Young-Adult Friendships

“…Prior research involving the analysis of turning points has not extensively focused on gender differences (e.g., Baxter & Bullis, 1986;Graham, 1997); however, traditional theories that privilege face-to-face contact would lead one to predict significant differences between women and men in LD friendships. Research focusing on GC friendships has revealed that women are more likely than men to self-disclose to their friends (Dolgin, Meyer, & Schwartz, 1991), whereas activities are apparently more central to developing closeness among men than women (Swain, 1989).…”

Post-Separation Conflict Trajectories: A Longitudinal Study

“…Authors in the field generally propose a rather linear portrait of the situation: There is a high degree of conflict between separated parents at the beginning of the transition, with the intensity dropping off progressively over time (Emery, 1999;Fischer et al, 2005;Maccoby & Mnookin, 1992). A few rare qualitative studies (Graham, 1997;Masheter, 1997) have nonetheless illustrated how post-break-up relation trajectories can deviate from this linear view. Graham, for instance, conducted retrospective interviews with 35 parents who had been separated for 8 years on average.…”

When a Small Thing Means so Much: Nonverbal Cues as Turning Points in Relationships

“…Golish (2000), Graham (1997), and Johnson et al (2004) likewise found that increases or decreases in geographical distance constitute turning points in a range of relational types. In their study of turning points in college teacher-student relationships, Docan-Morgan and Manusov (2009) found that seeing a professor in a non-academic environment can be a turning point.…”

“…(p. 237). Graham (1997) expanded on this conceptualization, stating that, by definition, turning points capture a critical moment, an event or incident that has impact or import.…”