Perceiving one’s romantic relationship as socially marginalized (i.e., as lacking social approval and acceptance) has been linked to an array of worse relational outcomes, including a greater likelihood of breakup. The present research extended this line of work by examining whether individuals who perceive disapproval specifically because of their current romantic relationship tend to experience worse personal health as well. Using an internet-based sample of romantically involved individuals, this study revealed that perceived marginalization of one’s relationship was associated with reporting more symptoms of poor physical health, as well as lower self-esteem. Each of these associations was mediated by negative affect. Moreover, perceived marginalization was directly associated with engagement in riskier health behaviors, including more cigarette smoking and less frequent condom use. These associations remained, even when controlling for important personal and relationship characteristics. Thus, perceiving that one’s relationship is socially marginalized is associated with worse health outcomes for the partners involved.
AikenL. S.WestS. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interaction. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2.
AllisonK. W. (1998). Stress and oppressed social category membership. In SwimJ. K.StangorC. (Eds), Prejudice: The target’s perspective (pp. 145–170). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
3.
AronA.AronE. N. (1986). Love as the expansion of self: Understanding attraction and satisfaction. New York: Hemisphere.
4.
AronA.AronE. N.SmollanD. (1992). Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 596–612.
5.
BarchardK. A.WilliamsJ. (2008). Practical advice for conducting ethical online experiments and questionnaires for United States psychologists. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 1111–1128.
6.
BaronR. M.KennyD. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
7.
BlairK. L.HolmbergD. (2008). Perceived social network support and well-being in same-sex versus mixed-sex romantic relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 25, 769–791.
8.
BorrellL. N.KiefeC. I.WilliamsD. R.Diez-RouxA. V.Gordon-LarsenP. (2006). Self-reported health, perceived racial discrimination, and skin color in African Americans in the CARDIA study. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 1415–1427.
9.
BranscombeN. R.SchmittM. T.HarveyR. D. (1999). Perceiving pervasive discrimination among African-Americans: Implications for group identification and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 135–149.
10.
BrewerM. B. (2008). Social identity and close relationships. In ForgasJ. P.FitnessJ. (Eds), Social relationships: Cognitive, affective, and motivational processes (pp. 167–184). New York: Psychology Press.
11.
BrewerM. B.GardnerW. (1996). Who is this “we”? Levels of collective identity and self representations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 83–93.
12.
BrownT.WilliamsD. R.JacksonJ. J.NeighborsH. W.TorresM.SellersS. L. et al. (2000). “Being Black and feeling blue”: The mental health consequences of racial discrimination. Race & Society, 2, 117–131.
13.
CoxC. L.WexlerM. O.RusbultC. E.GainesS. O.Jr. (1997). Prescriptive support and commitment processes in close relationships. Social Psychology Quarterly, 60, 79–90.
14.
DerogatisL. R.LipmanR. S.RickelsK.UhlenhuthE. H.CoviL. (1974). The Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL): A self-report symptom inventory. Behavioral Science, 19, 1–15.
15.
DiazR. M.AyalaG.BienE. (2004). Sexual risk as an outcome of social oppression: Data from a probability sample of Latino gay men in three U.S. cities. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 10, 255–267.
16.
Din-DziethamR.NembhardW. N.CollinsR.DavisS. K. (2004). Perceived stress following race-based discrimination at work is associated with hypertension in African-Americans. The metro Atlanta heart disease study, 1999–2001. Social Science & Medicine, 58, 449–461.
17.
EtcheverryP. E.AgnewC. R. (2004). Subjective norms and the prediction of romantic relationship state and fate. Personal Relationships, 11, 409–428.
18.
GoslingS. D.VazireS.SrivastavaS.JohnO. P. (2004). Should we trust web-based studies?American Psychologist, 59, 93–104.
19.
HuebnerD. M.DavisM. C. (2007). Perceived antigay discrimination and physical health outcomes. Health Psychology, 26, 627–634.
20.
InzlichtM.McKayL.AronsonJ. (2006). Stigma as ego depletion: How being the target of prejudice affects self-control. Psychological Science, 17, 262–269.
LandrineH.KlonoffE. A. (1996). The Schedule of Racist Events: A measure of racial discrimination and a study of its negative physical and mental health consequences. Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 144–168.
23.
LehmillerJ. J. (2009). Secret romantic relationships: Consequences for personal and relational well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1452–1466.
24.
LehmillerJ. J.AgnewC. R. (2006). Marginalized relationships: The impact of social disapproval on romantic relationship commitment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 40–51.
25.
LehmillerJ. J.AgnewC. R. (2007). Perceived marginalization and the prediction of romantic relationship stability. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69, 1036–1049.
26.
LuoA.CartunM. A.SniderA. G. (2010). Assessing extradyadic behavior: A review, a new measure, and two new models. Personality and Individual Differences, 49, 155–163.
27.
MartinJ. K.TuchS. A.RomanP. M. (2003). Problem drinking patterns among African Americans: The impacts of reports of discrimination, perceptions of prejudice, and “risky” coping strategies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 408–425.
28.
MaysV. M.CochranS. D. (2001). Mental health correlates of perceived discrimination among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 1869–1876.
29.
MeyerI. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 674–697.
30.
OngA. D.BergemanC. S.BiscontiT. L.WallaceK. A. (2006). The contours of resilience and the complexity of emotions in later life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 730–749.
31.
PascoeE. A.Smart RichmanL. (2009). Perceived discrimination and health: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 531–554.
32.
PavalkoE. K.MossakowskiK. N.HamiltonV. J. (2003). Does perceived discrimination affect health? Longitudinal relationships between work discrimination and women’s physical and emotional health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44, 18–33.
33.
RosenbergM. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
34.
RossL. T.LutzC. J.LakeyB. (1999). Perceived social support and attributions for failed support. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 896–908.
35.
SchmittM. T.BranscombeN. R.PostmesT. (2003). Women’s emotional responses to the pervasiveness of gender discrimination. EuropeanJournal of Social Psychology, 33, 297–312.
SenfJ. H.PriceC. Q. (1994). Young adults, alcohol and condom use: What is the connection?Journal of Adolescent Health, 15, 238–244.
38.
ShiffmanS. (2009). How many cigarettes did you smoke? Assessing cigarette consumption by global report, time-line follow-back, and ecological momentary assessment. Health Psychology, 28, 519–526.
39.
SlavinL. A.RainerK. L.McCrearyM. L.GowdaK. K. (1991). Toward a multicultural model of the stress process. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 156–163.
40.
SprecherS. (1988). Investment model, equity, and social support determinants of relationship commitment. Social Psychology Quarterly, 51, 318–328.
41.
UchinoB. N.CacioppoJ. T.Kiecolt-GlaserJ. K. (1996). The relationship between social support and physiological processes: A review with emphasis on underlying mechanisms and implications for health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 488–531.
42.
WatsonD.ClarkL. A.TellegenA. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
