Abstract
Loss is an integral part of close relationships. Death, estrangement, and geographical distance often separate us from those with whom we are close. Relationships are continually being constituted and dissolved. If we are truly to understand close relationships, we must not limit ourselves to studying them only during their constitutive phase but also throughout their natural cycle. As there is much to learn from studying attraction and relationship formation (e.g., Berscheid & Peplau, 1983; Berscheid & Walster, 1978), so there is much to learn from studying relationship dissolution (e.g., Duck, 1982; Hill, Rubin, & Peplau, 1976; Levinger, 1976; Weiss, 1975). As Lewin observed, it is when an entity is moving and changing that its dynamics reveal themselves most clearly (cited in Deutsch, 1954). And as Bowlby (1979) suggests in the title of one of his books, to understand human relationships we must examine both “the making and [the] breaking of affectional bonds.”
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Hazan, C., Shaver, P.R. (1992). Broken Attachments: Relationship Loss From the Perspective of Attachment Theory. In: Orbuch, T.L. (eds) Close Relationship Loss. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9186-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9186-9_5
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