Personality and social network effects on romantic relationships: a dyadic approach

Abstract

The quality of romantic relationships and their associations with both partners' personality traits and social networks were studied in 100 younger couples. The similarity of partners was modest with respect to personality traits, and moderate to large with respect to the perceived quality of the partner relationship and their social networks. While similarity in personality was unrelated to relationship quality, dyadic analyses showed that one's perceived quality of relationship was better predicted by one's own personality (i.e. actor effects) than by the personality of one's partner (i.e. partner effects). Moreover, relationship quality could to some extent be predicted by the quality of the social network once the personality traits of each partner were controlled. Results are discussed from a transactional view of personality and relationships. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Asendorpf

J. B.

Banse

Wilpers

Neyer

F. J.

(1997).Beziehungsspezifische Bindungsskalen für Erwachsene und ihre Validierung durch Netzwerk‐ und Tagebuchverfahren [Relationship‐specific attachment scales for adults and their validation by using network and diary procedures]. Diagnostica, 43,289–313.

Asendorpf

J. B.

van Aken

M. A. G.

(1994).Traits and relationship status. Child Development, 65,1786–1798.

Asendorpf

J. B.

Wilpers

(1998).Personality effects on social relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74,1531–1544.

Baldwin

M. W.

Keelan

J. P. R.

Fehr

Enns

Koh‐Rangarajoo

(1996).Social–cognitive conceptualization of attachment working models: Availability and accessibility effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71,94–109.

Bartholomew

(1990).Avoidance of intimacy: An attachment perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7,147–178.

Bentler

P. M.

Newcomb

M. D.

(1978).Longitudinal study of marital success and failure. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46,1053–1070.

Berscheid

(1999).The greening of relationship science. American Psychologist, 54,260–266.

Blood

R. O.

(1969).Kinship interaction and marital solidarity. Merrill‐Palmer Quarterly, 15,171–184.

Borkenau

Ostendorf

(1993). NEO‐Fünf‐Faktoren Inventar (NEO–FFI)[NEO Five Factor Inventory]. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

10.

Bott

(1957). Family and social networks. London: Tavistock.

11.

Botwin

M. D.

Buss

D. M.

Shackelford

T. K.

(1997).Personality and mate preferences: Five factors in mate selection and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 65,107–136.

12.

Bouchard

Lussier

Saborin

(1999).Personality and marital adjustment: Utility of the Five‐Factor‐Model of personality. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61,651–660.

13.

Burger

Milardo

R. M.

(1995).Marital interdependence and social networks. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 12,403–415.

14.

Burgess

E. W.

Wallin

(1953). Engagement and marriage. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott.

15.

Buss

D. M.

(1984).Marital assortment for personality dispositions: Assessment with three different data systems. Behavior Genetics, 14,111–123.

16.

Buss

D. M.

(1991).Conflict in married couples: Personality predictors of anger and upset. Journal of Personality, 59,663–688.

17.

Caughlin

J. P.

Huston

T. L.

Houts

R. M.

(2000).How does personality matter in marriage? An examination of trait anxiety, interpersonal negativity, and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78,326–336.

18.

Collins

N. L.

Read

S. J.

(1990).Adult attachment, working models, and relationship quality in dating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58,644–663.

19.

Driscoll

Davis

K. E.

Lipetz

M. E.

(1972).Parental interference and romantic love: The Romeo and Juliet effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24,1–10.

20.

Eysenck

H. J.

Wakefield

J. A.

(1981).Psychological factors as predictors of marital satisfaction. Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy, 3,151–192.

21.

Furman

Simon

V. A.

Shaffer

Bouchey

H. A.

(2002).Adolescents' working models and styles for relationships with parents, friends, and romantic partners. Child Development, 73,241–255.

22.

Gonzalez

Griffin

(1997). On the statistics of interdependence: Treating dyadic data with respect. In S. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships(2nd ed., pp.271–302). Chichester: Wiley.

23.

Gottman

J. M.

(1994). What predicts divorce? The relation between marital processes and marital outcomes. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

24.

Hendrick

S. S.

(1988).A generic measure of relationship satisfaction. Journal of the Marriage and the Family, 50,93–98.

25.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(1995).The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability: A review of theory, method, and research. Psychological Bulletin, 118,3–34.

26.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

(1997).Neuroticism, marital interaction, and the trajectory of marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72,1075–1092.

27.

Karney

B. R.

Bradbury

T. N.

Fincham

F. D.

Sullivan

K. T.

(1994).The role of negative affectivity in the association between attributions and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66,413–424.

28.

Kelly

E. L.

Conley

J. J.

(1987).Personality and compatibility: A prospective analysis of marital stability and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52,27–40.

29.

Kenny

D. A.

(1996).Models of non‐independence in dyadic research. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 13,279–294.

30.

Kurdek

L. A.

(1993).Predicting marital dissolution: A 5‐year prospective longitudinal study on newlywed couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64,221–242.

31.

Lykken

D. T.

Tellegen

(1993).Is human mating adventitious or the result of deliberate choice? A twin study of mate selection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65,56–68.

32.

Marsh

H. W.

O'Neill

(1984).Self‐description questionnaire III: The construct validity of multidimensional self‐concept ratings by late adolescents. Journal of Educational Measurement, 21,153–174.

33.

McCrae

R. R.

(1996).Social consequences of experiential openness. Psychological Bulletin, 120,323–337.

34.

McCrae

R. R.

Stone

S. V.

Fagan

P. J.

Costa

P. T.

(1998).Identifying causes of disagreement between self‐reports and spouse ratings of personality. Journal of Personality, 66,285–313.

35.

Milardo

R. M.

Allan

(1997). Social networks and marital relationships. In S. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships(2nd ed., pp.505–522). Chichester: Wiley.

36.

Milardo

R. M.

Lewis

R. A.

(1985). Social networks, families, and mate selection: A transactional analysis. In L. L'Abate (Ed.), The handbook of family psychology and therapy(Vol. 1, pp.258–283). Chicago, IL: Dorsey.

37.

Myers

D. G.

Diener

(1995).Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6,10–19.

38.

Neyer

F. J.

(1997).Free recall or recognition in collecting egocentered networks: The role of survey technique. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14,305–316.

39.

Neyer

F. J.

(1999).Die Persönlichkeit junger Erwachsener in unterschiedlichen Lebensformen [The personality of young adults with different life patterns]. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 51,491–508.

40.

Neyer

F. J.

(2002).The dyadic interdependence of attachment security and dependency: A conceptual replication across older twins and younger couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 19,483–503.

41.

Neyer

F. J.

(2004). Dyadic fits and transactions in personality and relationships. In F. R. Lang , & K. L. Fingerman (Eds.), Growing together: Personal relationships across the lifespan(pp.290–316). New York: Cambridge University Press.

42.

Neyer

F. J.

(in press). Informant assessment. In M. Eid , & E. Diener (Eds.), Handbook of psychological measurement: A multimethod perspective. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

43.

Neyer

F. J.

Asendorpf

J. B.

(2001).Personality–relationship transaction in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81,1190–1204.

44.

Roberts

B. W.

Robins

R. W.

Caspi

Trzesniewski

K. H.

(in press). Personality trait development in adulthood. In J. L. Mortimer , & M. Shanahan (Eds.), Handbook of the life course. New York: Plenum.

45.

Robins

R. W.

Caspi

Moffit

T. E.

(2000).Two personalities, one relationship: Both partners' personality traits shape the quality of their relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79,251–259.

46.

Robins

R. W.

Caspi

Moffitt

T. E.

(2002).It's not just who you're with, it's who you are: Personality and relationship experiences across multiple relationships. Journal of Personality, 70,925–964.

47.

Russel

R. J. H.

Wells

P. A.

(1994).Personality and quality of marriage. British Journal of Psychology, 85,161–168.

48.

Sander

Böcker

(1993).Die Deutsche Form der Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS): Eine kurze Skala zur Messung der Zufriedenheit in der Partnerschaft [The German version of the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS): A short scale for the assessment of relationship satisfaction]. Diagnostica, 39,55–62.

49.

Shaver

P. R.

Brennan

K. A.

(1992).Attachment styles and the Big Five personality traits: Their connections with each other and with romantic relationship outcomes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18,536–545.

50.

Sprecher

Felmee

Orbruch

T. L.

Willetts

M. C.

(2002). Social networks and change in personal relationships. In A. L. Vangelisti , H. T. Reis , & M. A. Fitzpatrick (Eds.), Stability and change in relationships(pp.257–284). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

51.

Terman

L. M.

Buttenweiser

(1935).Personality factors in marital compatibility. Journal of Social Psychology, 6,143–173.

52.

Trzesniewski

K. H.

Donnellan

M. B.

Robins

R. W.

(2003).Stability of self‐esteem acorss the life‐span. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84,205–220.

53.

Watson

Hubbard

Wiese

(2000).General traits of personality and affectivity as predictors of satisfaction in intimate relationships: Evidence from self‐ and partner‐ratings. Journal of Personality, 68,413–449.