Abstract
In early marriage, couples are intricately tied to their social networks and are influenced by important connections, social interactions, and socialization processes within those networks. Most of the research on the links between social networks and marital processes has focused on the positive effects or support married couples receive from their friends and family. The present study examined the links between perceptions of interference from family and friends and newlyweds’ reports of marital well-being in the early years of marriage. The contexts of both gender and race were explored to gain a better understanding of how interference from family and friends might be linked to marital well-being. Data from Black American and White American couples in their early years of marriage were analyzed. The findings revealed that perceptions of interference from friends were negatively associated with marital well-being for both Black American and White American wives. Husbands’ perceptions of interference from their wives’ friends were negatively linked to marital well-being, but only for Black American husbands. We offer several explanations for the differential links between perceptions of interference and marital well-being, including the role of relationships in self-identity and the negative spillover effect of external stressors.
Highlights
In early marriage, couples are intricately tied to their social networks and are influenced by important connections, social interactions, and socialization processes within those networks
The current study examined the links between social network interference and marital well-being and whether these links varied by gender and race
The findings demonstrate that the contexts of gender and race, as well as the source of the interference, have important implications for wives’ and husbands’ marital well-being in the early years of marriage
Summary
Couples are intricately tied to their social networks and are influenced by important connections, social interactions, and socialization processes within those networks. Schramm, Marshall, Harris, and Lee (2005) studied the problem areas that newlyweds have in the first year of marriage and found that parents/in-laws and lack of time spent together were among the most commonly reported problems for both husbands and wives Both of these individual challenges were included in categories of problem areas that predicted declines in marital satisfaction and marital adjustment among couples married an Trotter, Orbuch, & Shrout average of five months. Most of the research that has focused on the negative influence of family and friends has primarily examined samples of dating couples in college (Felmlee, 2001; Sprecher, Felmlee, Orbuch, &Willetts, 2002), interference from family and friends has been reported retrospectively as a source of tension in marriage and a contributing factor to relationship dissolution (Felmlee, 2001; Schramm et al, 2005). We assess whether these links vary given the contexts of gender and race
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