The Role of Intimacy in Interpersonal Relations

Many theories and studies of intimacy exist, yet researchers generally overlook an elementary question: Why should intimacy, in comparison to other features of good relationships, be important for human welfare? This paper addresses two aspects of this question. First, it selectively examines existing theories and research that help indicate why intimacy is so critical for relationship development and individual welfare. Second, it proposes a process-oriented view of social support that focuses on its relation to intimacy. Although functional theories of support are securely ensconced in the literature, there has been little integration of this work with established theories of relationship dynamics. Notions of intimacy suggest several possibilities for such integration, which are explored from theoretical, empirical, and clinical perspectives.