Relationship Maintenance Example: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices

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Practices that may help

  1. Relationship Maintenance Behaviors
    Relationship maintenance behaviors are the everyday actions partners use to sustain relationship satisfaction, commitment, and closeness over time. Laura Stafford’s research identified five evidence-linked categories — positivity, openness, assurances, social networks, and sharing tasks — with positivity and assurances showing the strongest and most consistent links to satisfaction.
  2. Pro-relationship maintenance behaviors
    Actively do things that maintain and strengthen the relationship, rather than expecting it to run itself.
    The Investment Model of Commitment: Why People Stay (and Why They Leave)
  3. Regularly share novel and enjoyable activities
    Do new things together — not only comfortable or habitual ones.
    Relationship Maintenance Behaviors
  4. Invest in shared social networks
    Spend time with people who affirm and are connected to both of you as a couple.
    Relationship Maintenance Behaviors
  5. Treat conflict as maintenance, not maintenance failure
    Repair well and quickly — because how you end conflict matters more than how you conduct it.
    Relationship Maintenance Behaviors
  6. Build rituals of connection and shared meaning
    Create repeatable rituals that signal the relationship is a priority.
    The 5-to-1 Positivity Ratio in Relationships
  7. Willingness to sacrifice: building relationship-oriented decision-making
    Practice making at least one weekly decision that prioritizes the relationship over personal short-term convenience.
    The Investment Model of Commitment: Why People Stay (and Why They Leave)
  8. Practice openness through regular self-disclosure
    Share your thoughts, feelings, and daily experiences — not just problems.
    Relationship Maintenance Behaviors
  9. Maintain positivity as a daily practice
    Be pleasant, cheerful, and avoid criticism as a baseline — not only when things are good.
    Relationship Maintenance Behaviors
  10. Do novel, moderately challenging activities together
    New and slightly difficult shared experiences restore the self-expansion that keeps closeness alive.
    Self-Expansion Model: How Relationships Grow (and Stagnate) Us

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