Who Matters More—Friends or a Romantic Partner? Gender, Emotion, and Social Contexts Using Time Use Data

• In Event: Family Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 15: Time Use

Abstract

Research consistently highlights that partnered men are more emotionally reliant on their female partner, but women are more likely to cultivate emotional intimacy outside their dyad with other social ties. Less is known, however, on how these emotions manifest in real time across various social configurations. Using the well-being modules from the American Time Use Survey (N= 62,071 activities, N=21,334 individuals), I analyze how four dimensions of emotion (happiness, meaning, fatigue, and stress) are associated with the following social compositions: time spent alone, exclusive partner time, friendship time with a partner, and friendship time independent of a partner. Fixed effects models revealed striking gender differences. Men’s emotional well-being was most favorable during friendship time with their partner present. This integrated time was associated with greater happiness and reduced fatigue and stress even when compared to exclusive partner time. Women showed no such associations. Notably, independent friendship time was associated with reduced fatigue for women but integrated friendship time decreased stress for men compared to time spent alone. These findings suggest that men’s emotional well-being is tethered to their female partner whereas the emotional well-being of women is more evenly spread across different social ties.

Author

• Hayoung David Oh, Baylor University