The digital divide in intimate relationships: Heterogeneous effects of internet use on marital stability

Abstract

The impact of Internet use on marital stability remains debated. Prevailing narratives often portray the Internet as a “marriage disruptor”, overlooking critical heterogeneity among users. This study tests whether structural resource advantages—the cognitive, institutional, and cultural stratification that shapes how individuals experience technology—moderates this relationship. We analyze five waves of nationally representative data from China (2015–2023, N = 30,896) using moderated mediation models. Results show that more frequent Internet use is associated with lower marital stability on average. However, this negative association is contingent on individuals' Structural Resource Index (SRI): it is substantial among individuals with low SRI but attenuated to non-significance among those with high SRI. Pathway analysis identifies two opposing indirect effects. A negative path runs through perceived social fairness: frequent Internet use is associated with reduced fairness perceptions, which in turn harms marital stability, but this effect diminishes as SRI increases. A positive path runs through subjective well-being: Internet use enhances well-being, which in turn stabilizes marriage, and this effect strengthens as SRI increases. These findings demonstrate that structural stratification associated with digital inequality systematically patterns how technology relates to intimate relationships. The Internet is not uniformly associated with marital disruption; rather, the direction and strength of its association with marital stability depend on the structural resources individuals bring to their digital experiences.