New research published in the journal Sex Roles examined how women who choose to keep their own surname after marriage are perceived in the United States.

The study of 912 undergraduate women and 289 undergraduate men found women who retained their own surname were viewed as less committed to their marriage compared who women who adopted the surname of their husband.

PsyPost interviewed the study’s corresponding author, Rachael Robnett of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Read her responses below:

PsyPost: Why were you interested in this topic?

Robnett: As a developmental psychologist, I have always had an interest in people’s adherence to gender roles across the lifespan. For instance, why do little girls often play with dolls, whereas little boys often play with blocks? In high school, why do adolescent girls often wait for adolescent boys to ask them to Prom or Homecoming? Why do heterosexual men nearly always initiate marriage proposals?

Although gender roles have become more flexible in many facets of life, they have been somewhat slower to change in heterosexual romantic relationships. This is perhaps most evident when it comes to traditions related to heterosexual marriage. For instance, women are increasingly obtaining high-powered careers, and it’s becoming more and more common for them to outearn their boyfriends or husbands; yet, the vast majority of women still change their names after marriage. This is puzzling given that women in the U.S. have, from a legal standpoint, been able to retain their own surnames after marriage since the 1970s.

In carrying out this research, we wanted to shed light on why the marital surname tradition exerts such a strong conformity pressure. We know from prior research that stereotypes encourage adherence to gender roles. That is, people often stick to traditional gender roles because violating these roles can lead to scrutiny and criticism. Therefore, one of the major goals of the study was to examine whether women who retain their surnames after marriage encounter negative stereotypes. We were especially interested in the stereotype that a woman who retains her own surname is less committed to her marriage than a woman who adopts her husband’s surname. That is, if Sarah Smith stays Sarah Smith after getting married, instead of adopting her husband’s surname, do people perceive her as less committed to her marriage? Before conducting this research, my co-authors and I had come across anecdotal evidence of this stereotype, but it hadn’t yet received empirical attention.

What should the average person take away from your study?

We used an experimental design to examine whether people hold stereotypes about women who retain their surnames after marriage. Specifically, we presented two groups college students with a short story describing “Christina” and “David,” who were about to get married. The first group of students read that Christina was planning to adopt David’s last name. The second group of students read that Christina was planning to keep her own name. Otherwise, the stories the two groups read were identical. After reading the stories, we asked participants to rate the strength of Christina’s commitment to a successful marriage.

There were two major take-home findings. First, participants who were told that Christina retained her own last name rated her as lower in marriage commitment; participants who were told that Christina adopted David’s last name rated her as higher in marriage commitment. Put differently, perceptions of Christina’s commitment to a successful marriage were influenced by her marital surname choice. This suggests that some women who violate tradition by retaining their own surnames after marriage may encounter stereotypes about the strength of their marriage commitment.

Importantly, our second take-home message is that not everybody in our sample held these stereotypes to the same degree. To better understand this variation, we conducted two follow-up studies that focused on a personality trait called social dominance orientation. People high in social dominance orientation react negatively to violations of the existing social order that affords White, heterosexual men with status and power; they tend to be high in sexism, racism, and other forms of bias. Our findings showed that people high in social dominance orientation were especially likely to perceive Christina as low in marriage commitment when she retained her own surname after marriage. This effect held even after controlling for variables such as gender, ethnicity and religiosity, which underscores the strong explanatory power of social dominance orientation. These findings suggest that, for some individuals, gender, power, and the marital surname tradition are closely linked.

Are there any major caveats? What questions still need to be addressed?

Yes, certainly–all research has caveats, and this study is no different. First, participants made their ratings after reading a brief story about a couple they didn’t know. This design has the benefit of experimental control, but it lacks some external validity. Specifically, people often, but not always, have a wealth of information at their disposal when they evaluate others. Thus, an important next-step is to examine whether our findings extend to evaluations of friends and family members that people encounter in their day-to-day life.

Second, our study focuses exclusively on heterosexual marriage norms. As the right to marry rapidly extends to people in same-sex relationships, the onus is on researchers to better understand the norms in these relationships. Carrie Underwood, one of the co-authors for the current study, just finished data collection for a study examining marital surname attitudes in same-sex couples. Her preliminary findings reveal both similarities and differences in how same-sex and heterosexual couples navigate the marital surname tradition.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

In conducting this research, my goal is to encourage people to actively consider gender-role traditions that receive relatively little attention due to being so commonplace. If this research can spark conversations between friends, family, or romantic partners, that goal has been accomplished.

The study, “‘She Might be Afraid of Commitment’: Perceptions of Women Who Retain Their Surname After Marriage“, was also co-authored by Carrie R. Underwood, Paul A. Nelson and Kristin J. Anderson.