The Newlywed Study – Phase 3 
The vast majority (83%) of men and women in the United States marry at some point in their life (Miller et al., 2007). Yet, given that 43% of first marriages end in divorce, newlyweds may worry about failing to find happiness in marriage (Miller et al., 2007). Because of its psychological, health, and financial costs, divorce comes at a high price not only for former couples but also for other members of their families and for society in general. 
 
To understand the factors leading to marital dissatisfaction and divorce, the SMITTEN Lab developed a program of research which focuses on the development of premarital relationships and the transition from courtship to marriage. Specifically, the Newlywed Study addresses the question of whether and how couples’ courtship experiences bear upon their subsequent marital relationship. With few exceptions (e.g., Umana-Taylor & Fine, 2003 with Hispanic couples; the Michigan Early Years of Marriage Study, Orbuch et al., 2002 with African-American couples), studies of commitment to marriage have been entirely based on middle-class Anglo respondents and thus may not generalize beyond this population. Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic minority group in the U.S. They are younger than the non-Hispanic White population and disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination, stress, and limited access to health care services (Amaro & Cortes, 2003). These factors as well as cultural variations in the socialization of people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds are likely to influence not only how committed people are to their relationships, but also what determines their commitment to marry (Umana-Taylor & Fine, 2003). In line with familistic values, Hispanics (compared to Anglos) have closer emotional and geographic family relationships (Golding & Baezconde-Garbanati, 1990) and rely socially, economically, and interpersonally more on kin (Keefe, 1984).  
 
For several years, the SMITTEN Lab has examined (a) how commitment to marriage develops over time; (b) the forces (e.g., feelings – such as love and ambivalence; cognitions – such as evaluations of the relationship and attributions; interpersonal events – such as premarital pregnancy and cohabitation; social network influences – such as approval of the relationship by family and friends; and sociocultural contexts – such as discrimination and poverty) which affect the development of commitment to marriage; and (c) the reasons why some people seem to have a realistic understanding of their partner and their relationship, whereas others enter marriage with their eyes tightly shut to their partner’s flaws. The SMITTEN Lab collected data at two phases, roughly 2.5 years apart from one another (on average) from newly married Hispanic, Caucasian, and interracial couples. In the third phase of data collection, we collected both quantitative and qualitative data to see how commitment has changed for these couples 10 to 12 years after the first wave of data collection. We are currently working on several projects using these data. 

The Relationship Between Personality Traits, Dating App Fulfilment, and Relationship Outcomes 
As dating practices continue to develop and evolve across time, recent generations have adopted the use of the internet to serve as a platform for these rituals. Although viewed as cliché in previous decades, only to be used by those who could not meet potential suitors in person, dating apps have become the societal norm today. Apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble have steadily increased in popularity across college campuses nationwide, utilized by those searching for both short- and long-term romantic relationships (Rosenfeld et al., 2019). Although there is prior research on participants' personality traits and dating app usage, and on dating app usage and relationship outcomes, little research has examined the mechanisms linking these areas. In this study, we explore the relationship between personality traits and Tinder users’ outcomes with partners they met online by analyzing whether a connection can be determined between the personality traits, fulfillment of one’s goals in using the app, relationship outcomes, and user disillusionment. We are currently in the data collection phase of this project.  

On the Brink: A Thematic Narrative Analysis of Disillusionment and Divorce 
The SMITTEN Lab has extensively researched romantic disillusionment and relationship functioning. Niehuis et al. (2019) define disillusionment as “a perception or feeling that experiences with one's partner and relationship have not gone nearly as well as one had expected and that restoring the relationship to a satisfactory state may be hopeless“ (p. 467). Niehuis et al. (2015) showed a statistical association between greater disillusionment and greater self-rated break-up likelihood in a national sample of married and cohabitating couples, even controlling for relationship satisfaction, commitment, and duration. Little is known, however, regarding how disillusionment leads individuals to the brink of relationship termination and how they decide whether to break up or reconcile. The 2015 National Divorce Decision-Making Project (NDDMP; Hawkins et al., 2017), consisting of a national survey of 3,000 married individuals aged 25-50 followed by in-depth interviews with a subset considering divorce, provides some leads. This study suggests that partners’ conditions for reconciliation (e.g., “if their spouse made some major changes,” p. 1); the kinds of problems partners were facing (e.g., infidelity, arguments); and their reparative behaviors (e.g., seeing a counselor or religious leader) may contribute to this decision-making process. Yet, despite alluding to disillusionment and the high expectations that may foster it, NDDMP researchers did not directly address how disillusionment may potentiate divorce and affect partners’ stay/leave decisions. We are using a mixed-methods study to understand what events lead individuals toward divorce or what may possibly prevent them from finalizing their divorce. Currently, we are in the data analysis phase of this project. 

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Sylvia Niehuis Ph.D.

Lab Phone: (806) 742-1776

Email: hs.smitten@ttu.edu

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