Intimacy unbound: The structure of intimate ties in Chicago.

摘要

During the last quarter of a century, Americans have increasingly formed intimate relations outside the purview of traditional social controls, such as the institution of marriage and networks of kin, thereby raising questions about the nature of negotiated arrangements occurring between intimate partners. This dissertation examines the manner in which members of an intimate partnership adopt a variety of dyadic and extradyadic practices, or cohesive practices, that are typically associated with the signaling of commitment. Drawing on the 1995--1997 Chicago Health and Social Life Survey, a representative sample of the adult population of the City of Chicago and its inner suburbs, a latent class model of patterns of cohesive practices shows three distinct types: tight-knit, loosely coupled, and detached intimate ties. While the tight-knit class corresponds with a companionate model of intimate relations, the other two represent alternatives associated with lower levels of relationship commitment. Loosely coupled relationships are generally nonexclusive yet still involve a degree of dyadic attachment. Conversely, detached relationships are exclusive, like tight-knit relationships, but incorporate little emotional attachment. Analyses of the determinants show that membership in the loosely coupled and the detached alternatives is organized, to some extent, by differences in attitudes, social opportunities, relationship characteristics, and race/ethnicity. In addition, since nonmonogamy is an important feature of some contemporary relationships, jealousy is likely to be an important emotional consequence. Analyses show that commitment plays an important organizing role in the social distribution of jealousy and whether jealousy is expressed as violence. Taken together, this research demonstrates the significance of the social organization of commitments by traditional social structures, like marriage and social networks, and by the structure of cohesive practices.