Relational Maintenance and Relational Entropy Predict Each Other Over a Year: A Test of the Theory of Relational Entropy in Friendships During COVID-19

Abstract

ABSTRACT To evaluate the foundational propositions of a nascent theory of relational entropy, this manuscript reports a longitudinal investigation of friendship across the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included 165 members of Greek-letter organizations (both current students and alumni), with data collected in Spring 2020 and again in Spring 2021. Results indicated that relationships exhibited greater entropy and less maintenance in Spring 2021 than in Spring 2020, with Spring 2020 maintenance predicting less entropy in Spring 2021. Although the personal impact of the pandemic predicted increased maintenance in Spring 2020, the direction of this effect was reversed a year later. These findings support key propositions of the nascent theory and identify directions for future refinement of it.