Social Media as a Relationship Outlet: Can Extra-Dyadic Interactions Preserve Social Monogamy?

August 2015 – December 2015

For much of my adult life, and especially during my undergraduate years, I spent a lot of time asking what keeps romantic partners together over time, and what returns are offered by marriage and parenthood in contemporary society? It’s funny how some things come full circle. I am currently in a doctorate program and these same questions continue to motivate projects I currently work on.

During my senior year, I designed an independent research project that was advised by Dr. Kristin Beals in the Department of Psychology at CSU, Fullerton.

Research Question

Q1: How does extra-dyadic interaction (EDI) through the use of social media preserve the function of social monogamy? *I defined EDI’s as any online interaction that does not lead to physical interaction but would be met with disapproval by a significant other.

Hypotheses

  • H1: It was predicted that there would be a positive relationship between relationship longevity and EDI.

  • H2: It was further predicted that individuals in monogamous relationships who reported EDI using social media would also report overall less self-expansion within their current primary relationship compared to those who did not report any EDI.

  • H3: It was predicted that individuals would report less commitment towards their current relationship if they experienced low self-expansion, regardless of EDI.

Methodology 

  1. This project began with an initial literature review on social expansion theory, the effects of social media on relationship instability and commitment, and stigmatization against non-monogamy. It is interesting to note that at this time, my literature search returned limited peer reviewed papers on the effects of social media on relationships. This is a much more prevalent topic today. 

  2. After my literature review, I composed a research proposal and submitted an IRB application. Once I had received approval from the IRB, I refined my literature review, and proceeded with designing my research study. A large part of this process entailed designing an online survey using Qualtrics that sought to investigate relationships between online extra-dyadic interaction, relationship commitment, & social expansion among socially monogamous people.

  3. My survey began with a series of demographic questions. Participants were then asked to complete a self-expansion questionnaire (SEQ) to measure the extent in which their primary relationship offered sufficient opportunities for increased novelty and challenge. Following the SEQ, participants answered a series of items that inquired about extra-dyadic interaction using social media, and about their commitment to their current primary partner (Investment Model items). The survey took an estimated total of 30-45 minutes to complete

Sampling and Recruitment

Given the limited time and resources I had to pursue this research, I relied on a snowball sample and recruited participants from Craigslist and Amazon MTurk. Exclusion criteria included participants under the age of 18 years old, individuals not currently in a monogamous relationship, and individuals not living with their current partner. A total of 143 participants consented to participate.

Data Analysis

Following data collection, data were divided into 2 groups as follows: (1) socially monogamous individuals who reported past or current EDI using social media and (2) socially monogamous individuals who did not report past or current EDI using social media. Three dependent variables compared between groups included: (1) relationship longevity, (2) extra-dyadic interaction, (3) levels of self-expansion, and (4) Investment Model scores as a measure of participants’ commitment to their current romantic partner.

Findings

Unfortunately, due to an unanticipated number of participants failing to answer all of the questions on the survey, statistical analysis of the data collected was severely limited. With less than a 50% response rate, some descriptive trends showed overall moderate levels of self-expansion among participants, low EDI, and high levels of commitment. Nevertheless, this was an unfortunate but important learning experience for me, and one of many experiences that have motivated me to become a better scientist.

Future Directions

Despite the limitations of this research, including non-response bias and social desirability bias, future investigation would benefit from implementing a stronger research design and better error control. For example, utilization of custom error messaging functions on Qualtrics and other online survey platforms would support greater participant response without necessitating a forced response option. Additionally, allowing participants the option to save their progress at any point in the survey would alleviate the pressure of answering all items at once. Third, researchers would benefit from pilot testing to examine deficiencies in the survey design prior to deployment.

Additionally, incorporation of a thematic analysis as part of the research methodology would provide further understanding of online EDI, justifications for online EDI, parallels between participants, and what the implications are for those in socially monogamous relationships.

In conclusion, the strengths of this study reside in pioneering a novel question that had never been explored, and inspiring new ideas for future research. Taking each of the above recommendations into consideration, replication of this study is encouraged to examine broadly what constitutes online extra-dyadic interactions for different people and couples, re-examining what constitutes monogamy and the impacts cultural mononormativity, and what relationships exist between EDI, social expansion, and commitment.