Facebook Use During Relationship Termination: Uncertainty Reduction and Surveillance

Many studies document how individuals use Facebook to meet partners or develop and maintain relationships. Less is known about information-seeking behaviors during the stages of relationship termination. Relational dissolution is a socially embedded activity, and affordances of social network sites offer many advantages in reducing uncertainty after a breakup. A survey collected responses from 110 individuals who use Facebook to gather information about their romantic ex-partners. Results indicated that after breakup, partners may take advantage of the system's information visibility and the relative invisibility of movement depending on relational factors (initiator role and breakup uncertainty), social factors (perceived network approval of Facebook surveillance), and individual privacy concerns. This investigation addresses questions such as what type of information-seeking foci do individuals employ and how do individuals use Facebook as a form of surveillance? What factors motivate surveillance behavior?

[1]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences , 1979 .

[2]  S. Duck,et al.  Dissolving personal relationships , 1982 .

[3]  Tara C. Marshall,et al.  Facebook Surveillance of Former Romantic Partners: Associations with PostBreakup Recovery and Personal Growth , 2012, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[4]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research , 1977 .

[5]  I. Altman,et al.  Dialectic Conceptions In Social Psychology: An Application To Social Penetration And Privacy Regulation , 1981 .

[6]  Susan Sprecher,et al.  Factors Associated with Distress Following the Breakup of a Close Relationship , 1998 .

[7]  William R. Cupach,et al.  Accounts of relational dissolution: A comparison of marital and non‐marital relationships , 1986 .

[8]  James M. Honeycutt.  EVENTS THAT INCREASE UNCERTAINTY IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS SALLY PLANALP , 1985 .

[9]  Brian H. Spitzberg,et al.  Cyberstalking and the technologies of interpersonal terrorism , 2002, New Media Soc..

[10]  Jennifer Bonds-Raacke,et al.  College Students' Facebook Stalking of Ex-Partners , 2011, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[11]  Leanne K. Knobloch,et al.  Using the relational turbulence model to understand negative emotion within courtship , 2007 .

[12]  Judith Donath,et al.  Public Displays of Connection , 2004 .

[13]  Robert S. Tokunaga,et al.  Social networking site or social surveillance site? Understanding the use of interpersonal electronic surveillance in romantic relationships , 2011, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[14]  Charles R. Berger,et al.  To Ask or Not to Ask: Is That a Question? , 1983 .

[15]  T. Marshall,et al.  Attachment styles as predictors of Facebook‐related jealousy and surveillance in romantic relationships , 2013 .

[16]  Malcolm R. Parks.  Personal Relationships and Personal Networks , 2007 .

[17]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Getting acquainted through social network sites: Testing a model of online uncertainty reduction and social attraction , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[18]  C. Berger,et al.  SOME EXPLORATIONS IN INITIAL INTERACTION AND BEYOND: TOWARD A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION , 1975 .

[19]  Amy Bruckman,et al.  Judging you by the company you keep: dating on social networking sites , 2007, GROUP.