MEDIA USAGE AND MARITAL QUALITY 1

Media Usage and Marital Quality: Is the Media a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?

Lizzy D. Fotheringham

Gwynne Noel

Hannah Downs

Brigham Young University - Idaho

Media Usage and Marital Quality: Is the Media a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?
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The purpose of this research paper is to examine the relationship between media usage

and marital quality. We define media usage as the total amount of time that an individual has

invested themselves in entertainment media. Sources of entertainment media vary, but for this

research paper we will examine media usage via television and computer specifically. For our

purposes, marital quality will be defined as an individual’s subjective assessment which places

their marital relationship on a continuum ranging from satisfactory to unsatisfactory. With so

much of our lives being spent in front of a television or computer screen, we want to know if an

individual’s media usage impacts their marital quality. We hypothesize that as an individual’s

media usage increases, their marital quality decreases (becoming less satisfactory). A review of

the preexisting literature on this topic should provide us with enough information to confidently

say whether or not our hypothesis is supported.

Literature Review

When TV and Marriage Meet

In a 2012 research study conducted by Jeremy L Osborn, he stated that the previous

studies done on the connection between television and interpersonal relationships provided an

unclear picture. The problem with the existing research was that it focused on general and

hypothetical relationship factors rather than specifically focusing-in on marital relationships.

After collecting and analyzing data from 392 married individuals, the results found in Osborn’s

study were concerning. “Results revealed that both heavier viewing of romantically themed

programming and greater belief in television's portrayals of romantic relationships were

associated with lower marital commitment, higher expected and perceived costs of marriage, and

more favorable perceptions of alternatives to one's current relationship” (Osborn, 2012).

Osborn’s results support our hypothesis that as an individual’s media usage (in this case, the
MEDIA USAGE AND MARITAL QUALITY 3

medium of television) increases, their marital quality decreases. What is even more interesting

about Osborn’s study is that he found that romantically themed media had a certain effect on the

marital relationship. Therefore, not only would a couple’s marital quality benefit from decreased

media usage in general, but also from decreased romantically themed media usage.

Social Network Sites, Marriage well-being and Divorce: Survey and State-level Evidence

from the United States

In another study, focusing specifically on social network sites, researchers express the

damage that can be done to couples who participate in any number of popular networking sites.

In the article (Valenzuela, Halpem & Katz, 2014) the authors state “SNS (social networking

sites) create an environment with potential situations that may evoke feelings of jealousy

between partners, harming the quality of their relationship. Moreover, SNS facilitate users

reconnecting with a variety of people with whom they have had a past relationship, creating the

potential for jealousy in current relationships”, the quality goes down because of jealousy created

by the pool of limitless others who virtually occupy their time. Even the simple abilities that

these websites provide, such as search engines that can look for a name, email address, mutual

friends, workplace, or even the location of their hometown or where they attended school make it

easier for the act of or even suspicion of cheating, which in turn hurts the relationship and

ultimately lowers the quality. In tern these findings support our hypothesis that increased media

usage decreases, in many specific ways, a couple’s well-being or as we predicted, their marital

quality.

The Association Between Time Spent Using Entertainment Media and Marital Quality in a

Contemporary Dyadic National Sample

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In a recent study, Jeffrey Dew and Sarah Tulane researched the effects of entertainment

media use on three different topics; marital satisfaction, conflict, and perceived marital

instability. The topic of entertainment media was broken down into three specific types;

television use, social networking website use, and gaming. The study used a national sample of

married couples with the total sample size being 1368 people. The Actor Partner

Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to see how the individual’s actions influenced both

their own (the actor) as well as their spouse’s (the partner) perceptions. “In the APIM Model, a

number of actor partner effects emerged. These associations all showed a negative relationship

between the frequency of media use and marital quality” (Dew & Tulane, 2015). The model was

also tested in reverse, meaning that information gathered was used to see if the marital quality

had any effect on the amount of entertainment media use of either spouse. Using the information

in this way revealed two associations. “First, husbands’ perceived marital instability was

positively associated with their reports of gaming. Secondly, husbands’ perceived marital

instability was positively associated with wives’ use of social networking websites” (Dew &

Tulane, 2015). The findings from this study support our hypothesis that marital quality is

negatively associated with entertainment media use.

Assessing the Mediating Effect of Relationship Dynamics Between Perceptions of

Problematic Media Use and Relationship Satisfaction

Finally, in a study conducted by Todd Spencer, Amberly Lambertsen, Daniel Hubler, and

Brandon Burr these researchers took a different approach than the other studies previously

mentioned. They looked at the association between relationship dynamic, perceived problematic

media use (PMU), and relationship satisfaction. When looking at relationship dynamics the study

focused on two common dynamics, demand-withdraw (DW) and criticism-defensiveness (CD)

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patterns when conducting their research. The results showed that there was a positive association

between PMU and CD patterns as well as PMU and DW patterns. The results also showed a

negative association between PMU and relationship satisfaction. When discussing their findings

the article states, “specifically, demand-withdraw & criticism-defensiveness patterns were found

to be negatively associated with relationship satisfaction and partially mediated the association

between perceptions of media use and relationship satisfaction” (Spencer, Lambertsen, Hubler,

& Burr, 2017). The results of this study support the hypothesis that media use and relationship

satisfaction are negatively associated. This study also adds in a new piece of information - that

the dynamic of the relationship affects the association between the media use and relationship

satisfaction.

Conclusion

Our hypothesis was that the usage of media had a negative effect on married couples and

ultimately lowered marriage quality. After looking at the data we came to the conclusion that the

research proved our hypothesis to be true, media usage does in fact lead to lower marital quality.

For example, the watching of romantic television shows lowered partners marital commitments,

the use of Facebook and its ability to locate old lovers or friends made for increased jealous, it

was even discovered that time spent simply watching TV or gaming had a negative impact on

marital satisfaction. That being said we feel that we can safely conclude that media usage,

including things like time spent in front of a television screen, computer networking, or gaming

does in fact have a negative impact on marital quality. This raises the question of whether or not

the divorce rate has or will increase because of this interesting research that has been done, if the

lower quality of marriage has actually caused or will cause a separation to occur.
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References

Dew, J., & Tulane, S. (2015). The association between time spent using entertainment media and

marital quality in a contemporary dyadic national sample. Journal of Family and Economic

Issues, 36(4), 621-632. doi://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/10834

This study used the Actor Partner Interdependence Model and a national sample of married

couples (N = 1368) to explore the relationship between entertainment media use and marital

satisfaction, conflict, and perceived marital instability. Entertainment media-use included newer

types of media (e.g., social networking websites) as well as traditional media (e.g., television). A

number of negative relationships between media use and wives' and husbands' marital quality

emerged. Husbands' use of social networking websites, in particular, was associated with many

of the marital quality variables. The effect sizes of media use were small, however. We also

explored whether the relationship worked in reverse and whether media use differences between

the spouses would relate to marital quality. When spouses reported different levels of using

video games, they also reported lower levels of marital quality. The findings suggest that as

media technology continues to change, it may relate to marital quality in new ways.

Osborn, J. L. (2012). When TV and marriage meet: A social exchange analysis of the impact of

television viewing on marital satisfaction and commitment. Mass Communication & Society,

15(5), 739-757. doi:10.1080/15205436.2011.618900

Although several studies have examined the association between television viewing and

romantic relationships, differences in theoretical grounding, methodology, and findings have

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produced a picture that is decidedly unclear. Furthermore, past research has been directed

primarily toward general relational attitudes and hypothetical relational behaviors without

considering potential effects of viewing on existing, long-term relationships. This study sought to

address these issues by drawing on the theoretical traditions of cultivation analysis, uses and

gratifications, and social exchange theory to explore the associations among relationship

variables and measures of both television viewing and belief in television portrayals by

analyzing data collected from 392 married individuals. Results revealed that both heavier

viewing of romantically themed programming and greater belief in television's portrayals of

romantic relationships were associated with lower marital commitment, higher expected and

perceived costs of marriage, and more favorable perceptions of alternatives to one's current

relationship. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Mass Communication & Society is

the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple

sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However,

users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged.

No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published

version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Spencer, T., Lambertsen, A., Hubler, D., & Burr, B. (2017). Assessing the mediating effect of

relationship dynamics between perceptions of problematic media use and relationship

satisfaction. Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, 39(2), 80-86.

doi:10.1007/s10591-017-9407-0

Previous research has indicated that it is common for couples to experience conflict over media

use. However, until recently clinicians and researchers have not explored the implications of

media use within romantic relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship
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between individuals' perception of problematic media use in connection with relationship

satisfaction, and to what extent demand-withdraw and criticism-defensiveness dynamics mediate

this association. Data was collected with a sample of 242 respondents completing an online

survey. Results showed that demand-withdraw and criticism-defensiveness patterns were found

to be negatively associated with relationship satisfaction, and that the association between

problematic media use and relationship satisfaction was partially mediated by the demand-

withdraw and criticism-defensiveness patterns. Based on these results, there is potential for

clinicians to view couple media use as a process level interaction, and by doing so, clinicians will

be better able to implement interventions that utilize clients' media use to promote relationship

satisfaction and stability while reducing problematic media use. ABSTRACT FROM

AUTHOR]; Copyright of Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal is the

property of Springer Science & Business Media B.V. and its content may not be copied or

emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This

abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should

refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to

all Abstracts.)

Valenzuela, S., Halpern, D., & Katz, J. E. (2014). Social network sites, marriage well-being and

divorce: Survey and state-level evidence from the united states. Computers in Human Behavior,

36, 94-101. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.03.034

This study explores the relationship between using social networks sites (SNS), marriage

satisfaction and divorce rates using survey data of married individuals and state-level data from

the United States. Results show that using SNS is negatively correlated with marriage quality
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and happiness, and positively correlated with experiencing a troubled relationship and thinking

about divorce. These correlations hold after a variety of economic, demographic, and

psychological variables related to marriage well-being are taken into account. Further, the

findings of this individual-level analysis are consistent with a state-level analysis of the most

popular SNS to date: across the U.S., the diffusion of Facebook between 2008 and 2010 is

positively correlated with increasing divorce rates during the same time period after controlling

for all time-invariant factors of each state (fixed effects), and continues to hold when time-

varying economic and socio-demographic factors that might affect divorce rates are also

controlled. Possible explanations for these associations are discussed, particularly in the context

of pro- and anti-social perspectives towards SNS and Facebook in particular.