RESEARCH_FILE
Susan Sprecher
Illinois State University
Known for:Long-running research on how social networks shape romantic relationship quality and stability
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“They're only saying it because they care”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“They have a concern. I have context—I'm the one who actually shows up in this relationship every day.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Spend ten minutes privately writing down three ordinary, positive things that happened with your partner in the past week that you witnessed directly. Do not reframe them through anyone else's lens or worry. Read them back to yourself without editing.
Key findings
- 2000
With Felmlee, tracked couples over time and found that a partner's friends and family do not form a fixed opinion at first meeting; their view shifts as the relationship passes through transitions like exclusivity or cohabitation. Romantic Partners' Perceptions of Social Network Attributes with the Passage of Time and Relationship Transitions ↗
- 2011
Reviewed decades of research and concluded that approval from a partner's friends and family, and integration into their social circle, is consistently associated with greater relationship stability and satisfaction across studies. The Influence of Social Networks on Romantic Relationships: Through the Lens of the Social Network ↗
- 1990
With Felmlee and Bassin, found in a hazard-model study that network disapproval predicted the timing of premarital breakups more strongly than several individual- and couple-level factors examined in the same analysis. The Dissolution of Intimate Relationships: A Hazard Model ↗