Relationship Analysis (Essay Sample)

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Relationship Analysis
Relationships are an important part of life for every human being. Relationships play a huge role in the social, emotional, and psychological growth of the parties involved. They provide emotional support, acceptance and love to people. They also help people in building their self-esteem and improve their mental and emotional health (Communication Theory). Therefore, healthy relationships are crucial for a person to live a long, happy and healthy life. However, relationships are not always easy to form and maintain. They require trust, hard work, and compromise to survive the issues that may arise. Therefore, it is important to examine the relationships in our lives so as to reap maximum benefits from them by adding value to each other. This essay is an analysis of my relationship with Victor Hayes using Knapp’s relational development model, relationships dimensions and self-disclosure.
In high school, I met several people but Victor stood out among all of them. My relationship with Victor began during our freshman year in high school. Victor and I have completed all the coming together stages of in Knapp’s model. These stages are initiating, experimenting, intensifying and integrating (Communication Theory). Our initiating phase was after a group discussion that laid the foundation for our relationship. After class, we engaged in a phatic conversation about how the class was on our way to lunch. During this initiation phase, the first impression plays a huge role in bringing the parties together (Communication Theory). I liked the way he was comfortable to talk to and casual dress code. We only discussed general topics such as his opinion in taking that class. Besides, our attraction to each other was based on having a common class.
Our relationship entered the experimenting phase where the parties engage in self-disclosure and learn important information about each other (Communication Theory). I desired to know him better, and I could tell from his friendly tone and gestures that the feeling was mutual. Therefore, we occasionally had lunch together. During this phase, we exchanged in small talk to search for a common ground between us. We exchanged information on our upbringing and the different experiences in the schools we attended. At the end of this phase had developed an attachment towards each other. We also realized some similarities between us which led us to the next stage. For instance, he loved biology and was interested in pursuing a career in health and so did I. As a result, we started studying together since we were taking similar classes.
This ushered us into the intensifying stage where the two individuals develop an attachment by discovering more commonalities between them (Communication Theory). We increased our communication through calling, texting, and meeting more often, sometimes even during the weekends. The level of self-disclosure also deepened during this stage. We shared confidential family information with ease. At one point, I confided in him about my financial challenges after my mum lost her job. He listened attentively and encouraged me that things will be okay. He also started opening up to me about issues in his family as we had developed trust on each other. Additionally, we continued to discover shared areas of interests such as leadership. We both valued our friendship and invested in it in terms of time and money.
As a result of being together most of the time, Victor and I grew very fond of each other that our friendship identified as an unbreakable bond. According to Knapp, the integrating stage exhibits the relationships to the public (Communication Theory). We did most of our things together such that our classmates identified us together. They thought we were inseparable and invited us social events together rather than individually. We believed that only death could break our friendship. Therefore, we decided to choose the same college for the sake of our relationship. Our relationship had entered the integrating stage of Knapp’s model judging from this.
Self-disclosure has played an important part in the coming together stage of our relationship. To start with, superficial self-disclosure in the form of "small talk" was the key to initiating our relationship that later moved on to intimate levels of self-disclosure. It enabled us to share intimate moments and confidential information in search for emotional support. For example, at one point, I was able to self-disclose my financial tribulations to him after my mum lost her job. He listened to me attentively as I expressed myself and then encouraged me. He also disclosed several challenges in his life to me such as his family’s struggling relationship. Therefore, self-disclosure helped built trust between us to the extent that we confide in each another. Additionally, self-disclosure helped us to know each other better and provide emotional support in challenging times.
However, after one year, our relationship entered the differentiating stage of the coming apart stages of Knapp’s model. We felt that we were spending a lot of time together leaving no room for other individual activities. Victor loved watching football with his buddies but our relationship had come in between them. I loved going to visit my parents during the weekends but had stopped since I met Victor as we used to go out together on the weekends. We both felt the need for some "me time" though we were not confi...