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Thursday 26 May 2016

The online ideal persona vs. the jealousy effect: Two explanations of why selfies are associated with lower-quality romantic relationships (Article)

Volume 34, Issue 1, 1 February 2017, Pages 114-123



School of Communications, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Alameda 340, Santiago, RM, Chile
Division of Emerging Media Studies, College of Communication, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

Drawing on social-psychology and communication theories, we advance a theoretical model to explain the negative effects of selfies on romantic relationships. We suggest that this individualistic use of social media is related to selfie related conflicts between partners through two processes: (1) jealousy, stemming from excessive individual photo-sharing or comments about those pictures, and (2) that, by sharing flattering images of oneself, an online ideal persona is created in the picture-taker's mind that diverges from real-life. These conflicts in turn reduce perceived quality of the romantic relationships. To test the model we conducted a two-wave, representative panel survey, separated by one year. Results support a partial mediation model between taking selfies and lower perception of relationship quality, suggesting that both mediators, jealousy and the online ideal persona, have a negative effect on romantic relationship over time. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Author keywords

Jealousy; Online persona; Romantic partners; Romantic relationships; Selfies; Social media

Indexed keywords

Engineering controlled terms: Information theory
Jealousy; Online persona; Romantic partners; Romantic relationship; Selfies; Social media
Engineering main heading: Social networking (online)
ISSN: 07365853 CODEN: TEINESource Type: Journal Original language: English
DOI: 10.1016/j.tele.2016.04.014Document Type: Article
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd

  Halpern, D.; School of Communications, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Alameda 340, Chile; email:dmhalper@uc.cl
© Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.