The Overview
“65% of American adults use social media, and this has risen substantially over the last decade” (Perrin, 2015). Social media is a massive part of global communication and interaction. Because of this, it is reasonable to assume that a vast majority of our relationships are either formed online or have at least some components of social media intertwined within them. Social media can have both positive and negative effects on a given relationship but aspects of that relationship can determine if the impact is beneficial or not. The aspects in question are satisfaction, attachment style, and gender. Also,there are many aspects of SNS such as, comments, pictures, friends/followers, or direct messages that could potentially lead to a cause for concern.
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The Research
McDaniel et al. (2016) looked into these aspects and how they relate to infidelity and ultimately martial satisfaction. They tested this by looking at the relationship between satisfaction, attachment style, and gender on infidelity-related (IR) behaviors in married couples which were defined as but not limited to engaging in cybersex, or becoming romantically involved with attractive or alternate partners. Their first hypothesis looked at the relationship between satisfaction and IR behaviors in married couples. In accordance with their hypothesis higher levels of IR behaviors were correlated with low levels of satisfaction. Their second hypothesis expanded on this and looked at attachment types and their effects on IR behaviors. McDaniel et al. (2016) found that attachment anxiety predicted higher levels of IR behaviors on social media but that attachment avoidance did not. A study done by Allen and Baucom (2004) also noted on this and discussed the gender differences between males and females and found that when not on social media, attachment anxiety lead females to conduct IR behaviors, but in males the same was true for and avoidant attachment style.
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The Takeaway
Overall, the general consensus was that the vast majority of individuals engaged in a marriage or cohabiting relationship do not partake in infidelity-related behaviors or are unwilling to honestly and accurately report these things. However, low satisfaction that may be a result of excessive social media use is related to higher rates of infidelity and different attachment styles affect male’s and female’s likelihood to commit an IR behavior.
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Charles J. Orlando and Lisa Steadman, both of whom are best selling authors, discuss the impact of facebook on infidelity.