The Tides of Change: Recent Trends and Developments in Close Relationships Research

This chapter presents an overview of recent trends and developments in research on close relationships. It is a sequel to the chapters that appeared in earlier editions of this Handbook (Perlman et al., 2018; Perlman & Duck, 2006) and thus reviews the developments in relationships research from 2016 to mid-2023. Drawing on data from a survey of authors of articles published in Personal Relationships and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and a bibliometric analysis of these papers, we discuss the scholars who relationship scientists perceive as eminent and who they feel are emerging as influential. We use these data to highlight the major theories, methodological trends, and substantive foci that have been the foundation of relationships research since 2016. Comparison with earlier versions of the chapter reveals stability in the field’s preoccupations but also demonstrates how it has responded to contextual factors within and outside of academia.