Abstract

The current study investigates the influence of adult attachment style on romantic posting behaviors on Facebook. Attachment theory has been widely used to examine behaviors and attitudes within romantic relationships, but little research has been done to extend these findings to the context of social media. A survey of 212 participants was conducted using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The results of a linear regression analysis showed that attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety predicted lower levels of romantic satisfaction, a finding reflective of previous attachment research (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). Two separate regression analyses were conducted to examine possible predictors of participants’ romantic displays on Facebook. The results of this study indicate that attachment style has an indirect influence on romantic posting behavior through its effect on relationship satisfaction. Specifically, romantic satisfaction is a stronger predictor of relationship visibility on Facebook than attachment style. The present study adds to the currently sparse body of research about romantic attachment and behavior on social media.

Advisor

Clayton, Susan

Department

Psychology

Disciplines

Social Psychology

Publication Date

2018

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis Exemplar

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© Copyright 2018 Amanda I. Wells