ASSESSING THE FOOTBALL WIDOW HYPOTHESIS: A COORIENTATION STUDY OF THE ROLE OF TELEVISED SPORTS IN LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

Using a coorientation perspective, this study examined the extent to which relational partners share behaviors and vantage points with regard to their use of televised sports. It also assessed the role that televised sports programming played in those relationships. Telephone interviews were conducted with 92 pairs of partners residing in two major cities, with the second partner interviewed immediately after the first. Coorientation measures (agreement, accuracy, and congruency) were computed by matching responses across partners. Relational partners appear to share evaluations of the scope and nature of the impact of televised sports in their relationship, although there were differences between partners in the amount of time spent watching their favorite sport on television as well as in their interest in and perceived knowledge of that sport. Televised sports appears to be a minor and nondisruptive activity in most ongoing relationships. Popular opinion to the contrary, the “football widow” syndrome does not appear to be widespread. Nonetheless, discrepancies between spouses related to televised sports seemed to make a difference in evaluations of relational satisfaction.