Abstract The present study explored why married couples periodically exchange gifts. Based on the commitment signal hypothesis, we tested whether relational mobility, which was operationalized as divorce rate in Study 1 and relational opportunities in Study 2, is positively correlated with the frequency of gift exchanges among married couples. In Study 1, we found that married couples in the U.S., which is associated with a relatively high divorce rate, were more likely to give and receive gifts to and from their partners than those in Japan, which is associated with a relatively low divorce rate. This societal difference, in contrast, was not observed among unmarried couples, who were still developing their relationship (and thus, partner changes could frequently happen regardless of the country-level divorce rate). Study 2, a secondary analysis of extant survey data, revealed that Japanese married couples who have more relational opportunities more frequently engage in gift exchanges than those who do not. Together, these results support our hypothesis that periodical gift exchanges work as commitment signals among married couples.

中文翻译：

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浪漫情侣送礼是一种承诺信号：关系流动与更频繁的送礼有关

摘要 本研究探讨已婚夫妇定期交换礼物的原因。基于承诺信号假设，我们测试了关系流动（在研究 1 中作为离婚率和研究 2 中的关系机会）是否与已婚夫妇交换礼物的频率呈正相关。在研究 1 中，我们发现美国的已婚夫妇（离婚率相对较高）比日本（离婚率相对较低）的夫妇更愿意向伴侣赠送和接受礼物. 相比之下，这种社会差异在未婚夫妇中并未观察到，他们仍在发展他们的关系（因此，无论国家/地区的离婚率如何，伴侣的变化都可能经常发生）。研究 2, 对现有调查数据的二次分析显示，拥有更多关系机会的日本已婚夫妇比没有的人更频繁地进行礼物交换。总之，这些结果支持我们的假设，即定期交换礼物是已婚夫妇之间的承诺信号。