Can Insecurely Attached Dating Couples Get Compensated on Social Network Sites? —The Effect of Surveillance

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Children, Adolescents, and the Media Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Intimate relationship experiences are of great importance to early adulthood. In the area of intimate relationship study, romantic attachment style is the primary theoretical framework. Meanwhile, the use of Social Networking Sites is prevailing among college students. And surveillance is found to have potential positive effect on relationship quality. The present study aims to explore the influences of romantic attachment style on relationship quality, and the moderate effect of surveillance during this process from individual and couple level. Study 1: Based on the survey of 320 college students who were in or once had been in a relationship, we found that: (1) two dimensions of romantic attachment, both anxiety and avoidance had negative effects on relationship quality. (2) Surveillance can relieve the decline of relationship quality caused by avoidant attachment, not by anxiety. Study 2: 250 college dating couples were recruited in. By adopting the Actor and Partner Interdependence Model, we found that: (1) for both male and female students, anxiety and avoidance dimensions had negative effects on the partner’s relationship quality. (2) Male’s surveillance on Social Networking Sites had moderate effect during the process of female students’ avoidance predicting relationship quality of male students. Conclusion: (1) Both anxiety and avoidance have negative effects on the self’s and the partner’s perceived relationship quality. (2) Surveillance can alleviate the drop of relationship quality caused by avoidant attachment only. And the compensation for relationship quality that is damaged by the partner is only effective for males.

Authors

• Kexin Wang, Tsinghua University

• Zheng Zhang, Tsinghua U

• Yixin Zhou, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Yangyi Song, Tsinghua U

• Mingjie Zhou, Institute of Psychology Chinese Acedemy of sciences Key laboratory of Mental Health