Network Interference in Pair Relationships: A Social Psychological Recasting of Slater's Theory of Social Regression

Abstract

Slater's (1963) functionalist theory of social anxiety is recast in terms of social psychological processes. As individuals become increasingly involved in an intimate relationship they withdraw from their respective social networks, producing reactions of social anxiety among network members and attempts to interfere with the relationship. Measures of network interference and relationship stage (casual dating to marriage) are derived from questionnaires administered to a random sample of university students (NI = 750). Findings indicate that, with reference to parents, siblings, other relatives, and friends, the proportion of network members perceived as interfering changes across stages in a curvilinear fashion. Other issues are discussed concerning the causal linkage of social withdrawal and interference, the conditions that influence the degree of interference, and the interrelations of perceptions of interference and actual attempts at interference.