Perceptions of Emotional Closeness and Commitment Among African American Couples: Implications for Promoting Relationship Stability

This study investigated how married and cohabiting African Americans define and experience emotional closeness and commitment because these processes have been shown to be directly linked to relationship stability. Thirty married and 30 cohabiting African American couples participated. Couples were between the ages of 21 and 45 years and had been in their relationship between 3 and 15 years. Interviews were conducted with the couples in their homes and were aimed at yielding a co-construction of couples’ views of these constructs. Specifically, this co-construction involved an examination of the ways men and women in married and cohabiting relationships define and experience emotional closeness and commitment. Special attention was devoted to examining the themes elicited from these interviews and illuminate the specific ways in which married and cohabiting African American couples consider emotional closeness and commitment. In general, few differences were apparent in their perceptions of emotional closeness. However, married couples were more likely to report that commitment played a large role in their decision to be together. Conversely, cohabiting couples expressed different views of commitment, often stating that commitment played a minimal role in their relationship or that they experienced commitment in ways that were not linked to the legal affirmation of their relationship. Implications for future research and practice include the importance of pinpointing the individual and cultural deterrents that affect the relationship stability of low income African American couples.