Previous research indicates that romantic partners’ relationship quality is associated with poverty and material hardship. Few studies have used longitudinal data to incorporate changing economic circumstances over time, included a range of economic factors, or investigated the role of social support in this association, however. Using five waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we extend prior work by evaluating the association between multiple economic stressors and romantic relationship quality over time, and whether social support explains or alters this association. Changes in economic stressors are associated with changes in romantic relationship quality over time, particularly nonstandard work and material hardship. Social support neither explains nor moderates this association in most cases. This study confirms the stress process perspective, showing how economic and work-related stress can proliferate into family life, but does not support the contention that social support buffers families against stress proliferation.

先前的研究表明，浪漫伴侣的关系质量与贫穷和物质困难有关。然而，很少有研究使用纵向数据来纳入随时间变化的经济状况，包括一系列经济因素或调查社会支持在这种关联中的作用。利用来自脆弱家庭和儿童福利研究的五波数据，我们通过评估多个经济压力源与恋爱关系质量之间的关联，以及社会支持是解释还是改变了这种关联，来扩展先前的工作。随着时间的推移，经济压力的变化与恋爱关系质量的变化有关，尤其是非标准工作和物质困难。在大多数情况下，社会支持既不能解释也不能调节这种联系。