Close friend activity and marital quality

Within the close relationships literature there are two divergent opinions of the association that an extramarital friendship may have with marital quality and each has empirical support. The presence of or interaction with close friends is sometimes associated with more satisfying marriages while other times is associated with less satisfying marriages. This current study provides some insight into how distressed and nondistressed spouses may interact differentially with close others. An adaptation of the Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model was used in this current investigation to help in predicting how marital quality might be associated with same-sex -extra-marital friendship activity. The SEM model suggests that a person's marital relationship could receive either benefit or detriment from the activities a spouse might engage in with a friend, depending upon the person's opinion of the spouse/friend activity.