Benefits and burdens of daily sacrifices and commitment in same- and different-gender couples: Explorations of proximity and direction of effects

Abstract

Research and theory document links between sacrifices and commitment in couples, yet the direction of effects remains unclear. Whereas interdependence theorists suggest that sacrifices help couples to build commitment, other scholars have suggested that being committed leads partners to sacrifice for each other. Nearly all research in this area has focused on men and women in different-gender relationships with each other. We contribute to this literature by using dyadic daily diary data to examine associations between sacrifices and commitment as they unfold in a sample of same- (n = 85 couples; 170 individuals) and different-gender (n = 100 couples; 200 individuals) couples. We use concurrent and lagged models to examine (a) proximity of effects (same day vs. carrying over to next day) and (b) direction of effects (i.e., do sacrifices predict changes in commitment, and/or vice versa). Results showed that effects were largely proximal—only one significant lagged effect emerged—and these were specific to actor effects. Furthermore, effects were bidirectional, and different patterns emerged for same- and different-gender couples. For same-gender couples, sacrifices and commitment were negatively associated. For different-gender couples, on days they reported performing more sacrifices they reported higher commitment, but when they reported higher commitment, they reported doing fewer sacrifices the following day. Results highlight the importance of examining diverse couples specific to questions of proximity and direction of effects for sacrifices and commitment.