National data on romantic relationships reveal a prominent gap between members of devalued and dominant groups in the United States, with devalued group members experiencing less positive relationship outcomes. However, little research examines how social stigma affects relationship quality for members of devalued groups and moderating factors have generally not been explored in the literature. In the current studies, we experimentally examined the effects of social stigma on relationship quality among women (Study 1) and African Americans (Study 2) as well as whether these effects differed based upon relationship length (Studies 1 and 2). Results showed that individuals involved in shorter relationships reported lesser relationship quality after social stigma was made salient, while those involved in longer relationships reported somewhat greater relationship quality after social stigma was made salient. Implications for future research on social stigma and relationship quality as well as moderating factors are discussed.
AikenL. S.WestS. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
2.
ArriagaX. B. (2001). The ups and downs of dating: Fluctuations in satisfaction in newly-formed romantic relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 754–765. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.5.754
3.
BaumeisterR. F.LearyM. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 497–529. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497
4.
BulandaJ. R.BrownS. L. (2007). Race-ethnic differences in marital quality and divorce. Social Science Research, 36, 945–967. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2006.04.001
5.
ClarkR.AndersonN. B.ClarkV. R.WilliamsD. R. (1999). Racism as a stressor for African Americans: A biopsychosocial model. American Psychologist, 54, 805–816. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.54.10.805
6.
ColtraneS. (2000). Research on household labor: Modeling and measuring the social embeddedness of routine family work. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62, 1208–1233. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.01208.x
7.
CrandallC. S. (1994). Prejudice against fat people: Ideology and self-interest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 882–894. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.66.5.882
8.
CrockerJ.MajorB.SteeleC. (1998). Social stigma. In GilbertD.FiskeS.LindzeyG. (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 504–553). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
9.
CrockerJ.VoelklK.TestaM.MajorB. (1991). Social stigma: The affective consequences of attributional ambiguity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 218–228. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.60.2.218
10.
DovidioJ. F.GaertnerS. L. (2000). Aversive racism and selection decisions: 1989 and 1999. Psychological Science, 11, 319–323. doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00262
11.
DoyleD. M.MolixL. (2013). How does stigma spoil relationships? Evidence that perceived discrimination harms romantic relationship quality through impaired self-image. Manuscript under review.
12.
FletcherG. J.FinchamF. D.CramerL.HeronN. (1987). The role of attributions in the development of dating relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 481–489. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.3.481
13.
FletcherG. J. O.SimpsonJ. A.ThomasG. (2000). The measurement of perceived relationship quality components: A confirmatory factor analytic study. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 340–354. doi:10.1177/0146167200265007
14.
FraleyC. R.ShaverP. R. (1998). Airport separations: A naturalistic study of adult attachment dynamics in separating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1198–1212. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.5.1198
15.
FraleyC. R.ShaverP. R. (2000). Adult romantic attachment: Theoretical developments, emerging controversies, and unanswered questions. Review of General Psychology, 4, 132–154. doi:10.1037/1089-2680.4.2.132
16.
FraleyR.DavisK. (1997). Attachment formation and transfer in young adults’ close friendships and romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 4, 131–144.
17.
FrostD. M. (2011). Stigma and intimacy in same-sex relationships: A narrative approach. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 1–10. doi:10.1037/a0022374
18.
GlickP.FiskeS. T. (1996). The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 491–512. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491
19.
GoffmanE. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
20.
HazanC.ZeifmanD. (1994). Sex and the psychological tether. In BartholomewK.PerlmanD. (Eds.), Attachment processes in adulthood. Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 5, pp. 151–178). London, England: Jessica Kingsley.
21.
HoweG. W.LevyM. L.CaplanR. D. (2004). Job loss and depressive symptoms in couples: Common stressors, stress transmission, or relationship disruption?Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 639–650. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.18.4.639
22.
KarneyB. R.BradburyT. N. (1995). The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability: A review of theory, methods, and research. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 3–34. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.118.1.3
23.
KarneyB. R.StoryL. B.BradburyT. N. (2005). Marriages in context: Interactions between chronic and acute stress among newlyweds. In RevensonT. A.KayserK.BodenmannG. (Eds.), Couples coping with stress: Emerging perspectives on dyadic coping (pp. 13–32). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
24.
KirkpatrickL. A.DavisK. E. (1994). Attachment style, gender, and relationship stability: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 502–512. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.66.3.502
25.
KitsonG. C. (1992). Portrait of divorce: Adjustment to marital breakdown. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
26.
LeB.DoveN. L.AgnewC. R.KornM. S.MutsoA. A. (2010). Predicting nonmarital romantic relationship dissolution: A meta-analytic synthesis. Personal Relationships, 17, 377–390. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2010.01285.x
27.
LincolnK. D.ChaeD. H. (2010). Stress, marital satisfaction, and psychological distress among African Americans. Journal of Family Issues, 31, 1081–1105. doi:10.1177/0192513X10365826
28.
MajorB.O’BrienL. T. (2005). The social psychology of stigma. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 393–421. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070137
29.
McCoyS. K.MajorB. (2003). Group identification moderates emotional responses to perceived prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1005–1017. doi:10.1177/0146167203253466
30.
MurrayS. L.BellaviaG.FeeneyB.HolmesJ. G.RoseP. (2001). The contingencies of interpersonal acceptance: When romantic relationships function as a self-affirmational resource. Motivation and Emotion, 25, 163–189. doi:10.1023/A:1010618010115
31.
MurrayS. L.BellaviaG. M.RoseP.GriffinD. W. (2003). Once hurt, twice hurtful: How perceived regard regulates daily marital interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 126–147. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.126
32.
MurrayS. L.HolmesJ. G.CollinsN. L. (2006). Optimizing assurance: The risk regulation system in relationships. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 641–666. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.5.641
33.
MurrayS. L.HolmesJ. G.MacDonaldG.EllsworthP. C. (1998). Through the looking glass darkly? When self-doubts turn into relationship insecurities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1459–1480. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.6.1459
34.
MurryV. M.BrownP. A.BrodyG. H.CutronaC. E.SimonsR. L. (2001). Racial discrimination as a moderator of the links among stress, maternal psychological functioning, and family relationships. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 915–926. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00915.x
35.
MurryV. M.HarrellA. W.BrodyG. HChenY.SimonsR. L.BlackA. R.…Gibbons F. X. (2008). Long term effects of stressors on relationship well-being and parenting among rural African American women. Family Relations, 57, 117–127. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00488.x
36.
NeffL. A.BroadyE. (2011). Stress resilience in early marriage: Can practice make perfect?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1050–1067. doi:10.1037/a0023809
37.
NeffL. A.KarneyB. R. (2004). How does context affect intimate relationships? Linking external stress and cognitive processes within marriage. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 134–148. doi:10.1177/0146167203255984
38.
ParkC. L. (1998). Stress-related growth and thriving through coping: The roles of personality and cognitive processes. Journal of Social Issues, 54, 267–277. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01218.x
39.
PascoeE. A.RichmanL. S. (2009). Perceived discrimination and health: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 531–554. doi:10.1037/a0016059
40.
QuinnD. M.ChaudoirS. R. (2009). Living with a concealable stigmatized identity: The impact of anticipated stigma, centrality, salience, and cultural stigma on psychological distress and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 634–651. doi:10.1037/a0015815
41.
RandallA. K.BodenmannG. (2009). The role of stress on close relationships and marital satisfaction. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 105–115. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2008.10.004
42.
ReisH. T.ClarkM. S.HolmesJ. G. (2004). Perceived partner responsiveness as an organizing construct in the study of intimacy and closeness. In MashekD. J.AronA. (Eds.), Handbook of closeness and intimacy (pp. 201–225). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
43.
RusbultC. E.BuunkB. P. (1993). Commitment processes in close relationships: An interdependence analysis. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 10, 175–204. doi:10.1177/026540759301000202
44.
SchmittM. T.BranscombeN. R.KobrynowiczD.OwenS. (2002). Perceiving discrimination against one’s gender group has different implications for well-being in women and men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 197–210. doi:10.1177/0146167202282006
45.
ShermanD. K.CohenG. L. (2006). The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 183–242. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38004-5
46.
SimpsonJ. A. (1987). The dissolution of romantic relationships: Factors involved in relationship stability and emotional distress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 683–692. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.4.683
47.
SimpsonJ. A.RholesW. S. (2012). Adult attachment orientations, stress, and romantic relationships. In DevineP.PlantA. (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 45, pp. 279–328). Burlington, MA: Academic Press.
48.
SouthS. J.LloydK. M. (1992). Marriage opportunities and family formation: Further implications of imbalanced sex ratios. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54, 440–451. doi:10.2307/353075
49.
SteeleC. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In BerkowitzL. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 261–302). New York, NY: Academic Press.
50.
SteeleC. M.SpencerS. J.AronsonJ. (2002). Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 34, pp. 379–440). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
51.
StoryL. B.BradburyT. N. (2004). Understanding marriage and stress: Essential questions and challenges. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 1139–1162. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2003.10.002
52.
TrailT. E.GoffP. A.BradburyT. N.KarneyB. R. (2012). The costs of racism for marriage: How racial discrimination hurts, and ethnic identity protects, newlywed marriages among Latinos. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 454–465. doi:10.1177/0146167211429450
