Two recent studies by Marie-Ève Daspe, Marie-Pier Vaillancourt-Morel, and Yvan Lussier examined associations between Facebook use, Facebook jealousy and intimate partner violence perpetration among adolescents and young adults.
In the first study, 1 508 adolescents and young adults involved in a romantic relationship completed online questionnaires to assess Facebook use, Facebook jealousy–triggered by content related to partner–and intimate partner violence perpetration.
In the second study, 46 couples aged between 14 and 25 completed questionnaires to examine associations between Facebook jealousy and intimate partner violence perpetration from a dyadic perspective, using data from both romantic partners.
What did we find?
Our results showed that a greater Facebook use is associated with more Facebook jealousy, which in turn is associated with intimate partner violence perpetration.
We however found that Facebook jealousy is linked to intimate partner violence perpetration only when both partners show high levels of Facebook jealousy. This could lead to more heated arguments that escalate into violent behaviors.
Our results suggest that Facebook jealousy is a risk factor for intimate partner violence perpetration, particularly in couples in which both partners are prone to experience jealousy. Our findings highlight the importance of sensitizing youth about their use of social media and their potential impact on romantic relationships.
For more details, we invite you to read the full paper:
Daspe, M.-È., Vaillancourt-Morel, M.-P., Lussier, Y., & Sabourin, S. (2018). Facebook use, Facebook jealousy, and intimate partner violence perpetration. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 21(9), 549-555.
