Marital success and domains of social support in long-term relationships: Does the influence of network members ever end?

This study examines the association between various domains of social network support and the long-term marital success of husbands and wives who had been married for an average of 20 years. We hypothesized that three domains of social network support (e.g., support related specifically to the relationship, affective overlap, and general personal support) would predict marital success. Overall, the findings suggest that social networks are influential in long-term marital relationships. For both husbands and wives, relationship-specific support predicted positive change in marital success from 1991 to 1994. Neither affective overlap nor personal support predicted marital success. This study underscores the significance of different domains of social support in long-term romantic relationships, the role of social support in predicting marital success, and the role of marital success in predicting social support.