Uftmch

Study

Using Facebook Too Much Could Harm Your Relationship, Study Suggests

C. Price

Written by: C. Price

C. Price

C. Price is part of DatingAdvice.com's content team. She writes advice articles, how-to guides, and studies — all relating to dating, relationships, love, sex, and more.

Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

Discuss This! Discuss This!
Advertiser Disclosure

While social media has opened up a broad new spectrum of communication possibilities, research finds excessive use of Facebook can prove harmful to a relationship down the line.

For the study, Russell Clayton, of the University of Missouri, Alexander Nagurney, an instructor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and Jessica R. Smith, a doctoral student at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, surveyed Facebook users aged 18 to 82 about their use on the social media site and its impact on romantic relationships.

The goal was to find out which type of conflicts arose over Facebook, how often and how these issues were resolved.

What they discovered was high usage of Facebook is a significant predictor of conflict, as well as negative outcomes including infidelity, separation or divorce.

“High usage of Facebook is a significant

predictor of negative outcomes like infidelity.”

“Previous research has shown that the more a person in a romantic relationship uses Facebook, the more likely they are to monitor their partner’s Facebook activity more stringently, which can lead to feelings of jealousy,” Clayton said.

The study shows the results were particularly apparent among couples who are in new relationships.

“This suggests that Facebook may be a threat to relationships that are not fully matured,” he said.

Jealously was found to a recurring issue of conflict reportedly among all users, but especially participants who are heavy users.

“Facebook-induced jealousy may lead to arguments concerning past partners,” Clayton said. “Also, our study found that excessive Facebook users are more likely to connect or reconnect with other Facebook users, including previous partners.”

Advertiser Disclosure

DatingAdvice.com is a free online resource that offers valuable content and comparison services to users. To keep this resource 100% free, we receive compensation from many of the offers listed on the site. Along with key review factors, this compensation may impact how and where products appear across the site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). DatingAdvice.com does not include the entire universe of available offers. Editorial opinions expressed on the site are strictly our own and are not provided, endorsed, or approved by advertisers.

Our Editorial Review Policy

Our site is committed to publishing independent, accurate content guided by strict editorial guidelines. Before articles and reviews are published on our site, they undergo a thorough review process performed by a team of independent editors and subject-matter experts to ensure the content’s accuracy, timeliness, and impartiality. Our editorial team is separate and independent of our site’s advertisers, and the opinions they express on our site are their own. To read more about our team members and their editorial backgrounds, please visit our site’s About page.