Affiliative rewards and restrictive costs in developing relationships

The developmental courses of affiliative rewards and restrictive costs in interpersonal relationships categorized as ‘successful’, ‘conflicted’, and ‘unsuccessful’ were examined in a longitudinal study. Students beginning their first semester at college evaluated their developing relationships at two‐week intervals over a three‐month period. At each testing session the participants completed a questionnaire asking them to identify specific rewards and costs in their current relationships. Hypotheses derived from an affiliation‐independence model of relationship development were confirmed. In the successful relationships, rewards grew as interpersonal involvement progressed while costs also increased initially but subsequently declined. The pattern in the conflicted relationships was different; rewards showed no increase with growing involvement and the costs that arose were of greater magnitude. Unsuccessful relationships had the highest costs level of all three relationship types. These findings are discussed.