Perceived versus reported social referent approval and romantic relationship commitment and persistence

The current study examined social network influence processes on romantic relationship outcomes by obtaining the reported opinions of social referents as well as romantic relationship members’ perceptions of social network members’ opinions. Participants were 254 (151 women) college students from the United States involved in romantic relationships along with a male and female friend who all completed surveys regarding the participants’ romantic relationship. This work demonstrated that perceived normative beliefs of social network members significantly mediated the effects of reported social network approval on relationship commitment. Participants’ reports of relationship commitment were found to mediate the effect of subjective norms on relationship persistence. Along with network members’ relationship approval, participants’ satisfaction was found to predict participants’ normative beliefs.     

Predicting nonmarital romantic relationship dissolution: A meta‐analytic synthesis

A meta‐analysis of predictors of nonmarital romantic relationship dissolution was conducted, including data collected from 37,761 participants and 137 studies over 33 years. Individual, relationship, and external variables were investigated, and results suggest that commitment, love, inclusion of other in the self, and dependence were among the strongest predictors of dissolution. Other relational variables such as satisfaction, perceptions of alternatives, and investments were modest predictors of breakup, and the external factor of social network support was also a robust predictor. Personality measures were found to have limited predictive utility, with small effects found for dimensions relational in nature (e.g., adult attachment orientations). Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed within the context of future research on nonmarital relationship dissolution.