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The Science of Friends Disliking Your Partner: What Network Approval Really Predicts

3 the researchers behind it — The idea that outside disapproval makes love stronger — the 'Romeo and Juliet effect' — comes from a single 1972 study of married and unmarried couple

University of California, Davis

Diane H. Felmlee

Known for:Research on how social networks and shifting appraisals shape whether relationships last

Key findings

  1. 1990

    With Sprecher and Bassin, found in a hazard-model analysis of dating-couple breakups that low approval or explicit disapproval from a partner's social network predicted an earlier end to the relationship, more strongly than several individual- and couple-level factors tested in the same model. ↗

  2. 1995

    In 'Fatal Attractions,' found that in about 29% of breakups, a quality that first attracted someone to a partner later became a source of complaint — showing that appraisals of a partner, including social ones, change as a relationship develops. ↗

  3. 2000

    With Sprecher, followed romantic partners over time and found that how a person's friends and family view their partner is not fixed at first meeting — it changes across relationship transitions such as becoming exclusive or moving in together. ↗

Illinois State University

Susan Sprecher

Known for:Long-running research on how social networks shape romantic relationship quality and stability

Key findings

  1. 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. ↗

  2. 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. ↗

  3. 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. ↗

Mississippi State University

H. Colleen Sinclair

Known for:Large-scale replication testing whether social network disapproval really intensifies romantic love

Key findings

  1. 2014

    With Hood and Wright, directly re-ran Driscoll, Davis and Lipetz's 1972 analysis on a new sample and found no evidence for the predicted 'boomerang' effect; network disapproval instead predicted lower love, trust, and commitment. ↗

  2. 2014

    Applied Driscoll and colleagues' original 1972 measurement approach to a modern sample to test replicability directly, rather than relying on newer methods — and still found the original 'boomerang' pattern did not reproduce. ↗

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