The impact of Facebook use on romantic relationships offline

Given the prevalence of social networking site (SNS) use, it is important to understand how online experiences can affect offline relationships. The purpose of this study was to shed light on how the SNS Facebook can affect romantic relationships offline. In particular, the focus was on relational happiness and jealousy as a result of Facebook use. A total of 124 Canadian participants met the study criteria and completed the online survey. Results showed that Facebook use can affect romantic relationships offline. A large number of participants reported experiencing both happiness and jealousy as a result of Facebook use. Contributing factors of those feelings were identified along with the ways in which romantic relationships were affected. Correlations among variables were also explored, providing underlying variables associated with both SNS happiness and jealousy. Overall, age was not found to be an important factor in the experience of Facebook happiness and jealousy.

Authors

• Evasiuk, Andrea
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education

• happiness
• jealousy
• offline romantic relationships
• online relationships
• social networking sites

Identifier

hdl:10133/4444

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/4444