Dyadic compensation and marital satisfaction in early marriage

This paper investigates the role of social networks in the marital satisfaction of couples married six years or less and who are under the age of thirty. Utilizing the concepts of commitment to continuation of the marriage, intimacy between the marriage partners, the level of emotional need fulfillment drawn by each respondent from his or her social network, gender, and length of marriage, dyadic compensation theory was developed and tested. While intimacy between the married partners was positively associated with higher marital satisfaction, the exchange of affection and comfort between the respondents and same-sex friends in their social networks was not. The finding extends previous relationship research on the social networks of dating couples which states that, prior to marriage, emotional involvement with friends detracts from couple solidarity.