Facebook Cause of Relationship Jealousy?
August 7, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
Happy in love can be a good thing for your health. Jealous in love, probably not. Could Facebook be adding a jealous element (and stress) to your relationship?
When I was in college, the Internet was just catching on. There was no Facebook to contend with. I was able to date Facebook-free. It seems less complicated, right?
New research published in CyberPsychology & Behavior says that the more college students hang out on Facebook, the more likely they are to feel jealousy toward romantic partners. Researchers found that students who spent time on sites like Facebook could be exposed to tidbits of info about their partners that makes them jealous. That jealousy may lead users to spend additional time on “online surveillance” to find out even more information that may provoke jealousy.
Sounds like a mean cycle uncovered by researchers Amy Muise, Emily Christofides and Serge Desmarais from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
Dr. Brenda K. Wiederhold, Editor-in-Chief of CyberPsychology & Behavior says that this research on college-aged people provides a good starting point to look at how social networking sites may affect other adult relationships as well.
(Image via stock.xchng)
