Our coders (members of our research team who did not know what the participants actually said about their relationships and didn't know the hypotheses of our study), then collected information from those profiles including whether participants had a «dyadic profile picture» (i.e., a relfie or similar picture that included both the individual and his or her partner) and if their relationship status indicated that they were «in a relationship...» (i.e., a «
dyadic relationship status»).
More than 25 % of our participants (who were all in romantic relationships) had a dyadic profile picture and nearly 70 % had
a dyadic relationship status on Facebook.
In some of the profiles we included a dyad profile picture (or not); likewise, sometimes
a dyadic relationship status was provided.
Participants with relfies and
dyadic relationship statuses were judged to have higher quality relationships (satisfaction and commitment).
Not exact matches
The traditional model of the western nuclear family, consisting of married heterosexual parents and their legitimate offspring, has undergone enormous change in the last two hundred years — attaching family
status to unmarried partnerships and legalizing same - sex marriage are only the most recent changes — perhaps expectations as to exclusivity and the
dyadic nature of committed
relationships are next.
New research suggests that people's profile pictures and
status updates reflect how satisfied they are in their
relationships and how close they feel to their partners.2 Across three studies, including both married and dating samples, my colleagues and I found that people who reported higher
relationship satisfaction and closeness to their partners were more likely to display
dyadic (read: couple - y) profile pictures and to have partners that posted
dyadic profile pictures as well.
Again, we found that people depicted in profiles with
dyadic pictures and
statuses were judged to have better
relationships and were better liked.
Evidence that
dyadic relationships and group processes are handled by different mental modules was cited by Vandell: Children's friendships and their
status in the peer group have different short - and long - term correlates (e.g., Bagwell, Newcomb, & Bukowski, 1998; Vandell & Hembree, l994).
Results indicated that (1) depressed patients and their spouses were less dyadically adjusted than nondepressed spouses, (2) causal and responsibility attributions about depressive behaviors predicted lower
dyadic adjustment, and (3) attributions of causality mediated the
relationship between group
status (depressed or nondepressed) and
dyadic adjustment among spouses who had higher expectations for their partner to change.