Browsing by Subject "Social network support"
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Item And this relationship is just right : normative romantic relationship development(2016-05) Keneski, Elizabeth Rose; Eastwick, Paul; Loving, Timothy J; Neff, Lisa A; Gleason, Marci E. J.; Swann, BillThe current five studies address an unanswered question in the romantic relationships literature: what do couples’ friends and family members observe about couples’ romances that brings those network members to (dis)approve of those relationships? I hypothesized that the extent to which couples follow an average, or normative, relationship trajectory—a just right, ‘Goldilocks’ relationship progression—increases network member relationship approval and support and, ultimately, influences couples’ relationship quality and outcomes. In Study 1, newlyweds generated a timeline of significant courtship events by indicating when each event occurred in their histories together. Spouses whose courtship timelines progressed in a more normative sequence reported greater marital satisfaction, and this association was mediated by more positive perceived relationships with friends and family members. In Studies 2a-c, and 3a, participants exhibited greater approval for a friend’s relationship to the degree that that relationship was perceived to have developed normatively. In Studies 3a and 3b, the associations between perceived normative relationship development, perceived network relationship approval, and relationship quality were replicated in engaged, recently-married, and long-married couples. Further, additional analyses suggest that social network relationship approval and support mediate the link between normative relationship development and subsequent relationship quality. In Studies 4a-b, the effect of normative relationship development on concurrent relationship quality was not replicated in dating couples, indicating that it may be too early in couples’ relationships to experience the benefits of normativity. Finally, Studies 5b and 5c (based on a qualitative pilot study) tested whether experiencing a more normative relationship development in fledgling relationships was associated with relationship quality, romantic interest, and relationship dissolution. Relationship normativity predicted higher peak romantic interest in both long-term and short-term relationships in Studies 5b, and higher average romantic interest and peak romantic interest, but only in long-term relationships, in Study 5c. There were no differences in deviations from a normative relationship progression, for short-term or long-term relationships, in whether or not those relationships had ended or were ongoing. Across studies, more normative relationship progressions were generally associated with greater relationship approval and support from couples’ social networks, and more average, ‘Goldilocks’ relationships thrived.Item Conflict and cortisol in newlyweds’ natural environments : the stress-buffering role of perceived network support(2013-12) Keneski, Elizabeth Rose; Loving, Timothy J.; Neff, Lisa A.Relationship conflict is robustly linked to negative physiological responses that have serious implications for partners’ overall physical health. The link between relationship conflict and physiological reactivity, however, has been studied almost exclusively in a laboratory setting. The first aim of this study was to assess the link between conflict and physiological function in couples’ home environments. Newlywed spouses reported occurrences of marital conflict in a daily diary and concurrently provided morning and evening saliva samples for the calculation of daily diurnal cortisol slopes. Spouses experienced less steep (i.e., less healthy) diurnal cortisol slopes on days of greater marital conflict. The second aim of this study was to examine whether spouses’ connections with close others outside their marriages (i.e., quantity and quality of perceived network support) moderate physiological responses to marital conflict. Whereas the quantity of network support did not influence spouses’ responses to conflict, the quality of spouses’ network support attenuated the association between daily marital conflict and diurnal cortisol. Specifically, whereas those spouses who were less satisfied with their network support experienced less steep diurnal cortisol on days of greater marital conflict, those spouses who were more satisfied with their network support exhibited no effects of daily marital conflict on diurnal cortisol. Implications for maintaining quality social relationships outside a marriage are discussed.