Friendships,romantic relationsips,and the importance of self-expansion.

Abstract

Self-expansion theory (Aron & Aron, 1986) posits that individuals enter and maintain relationships in order to expand their sense of self and suggests that expanding the sense of self is a basic human motivation. In this study, I examined whether the perceived opportunities for self-expansion within a relationship predicted feelings of closeness and passion for a partner, and unlike many previous studies, I explored the importance of self-expansion in friendships as well as romantic relationships. I also explored individual differences in the importance of self-expansion opportunities in predicting closeness and passion. The results suggest that opportunities for self-expansion may motivate involvement in both friendships and romantic relationships, although the experience may be different in the two categories of relationship. The results also suggest that there may be individual differences in the importance of self-expansion, but these patterns were not as expected. I discuss the implications of these results for self-expansion theory and understanding close relationships.