A new study shows that the extensive use of social networking site Facebook can cause some serious damage to new relationships.
Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are known to change the way people look at relationships, especially romantic ones. Now, a new study shows that the extensive use of Facebook could cause serious damage to such relationships. Russell Clayton, a doctoral student in the University Of Missouri School Of Journalism states that people who use the social networking site extensively are more likely to experience Facebook-related conflicts in their romantic relationships, which could lead to misunderstandings, emotional and physical stress, cheating, break-ups and even divorce.
For the study, Clayton along with 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, looked into the Facebook usage of people aged between 18 and 82 years. All participants in the study were asked how often and how much they used Facebook and if any conflicts had arisen between their present of former romantic partners relating o their Facebook usage.
Researchers found that participants who reported using Facebook extensively also faced facebook related conflicts with their partners, which led to negative outcomes in their relationship like break-up, cheating and divorce.
"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. "Facebook-induced jealousy may lead to arguments concerning past partners. Also, our study found that excessive Facebook users are more likely to connect or reconnect with other Facebook users, including previous partners, which may lead to emotional and physical cheating."
Researchers of the study also stated that they observed these Facebook-related conflicts more in newer relationships. Clayton said that the trend was more apparent in relationships that were three years old or less.
The study suggests that the extensive use of Facebook can pose to be a serious threat to immature relationships. He says that one reason for this could be because people in mature relationships tend to use Facebook less and so are not exposed to Facebook-related conflicts as much as people in immature relationships who use the social networking site more regularly.
Clayton suggests that people in newer relationships should hold back on their Facebook usage in order to avoid such conflicts. People in new relationships have just started learning about each other and any misunderstandings during this initial stage could cause serious damage.
This study will be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.
