Preserving Romantic Relationship through Social Media
Leandro C. Torreon *
Bohol Island State University, Candijay Campus, Cogtong, Candijay, Bohol, Philippines.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites (SNS) that recreates face-to-face interactions on the web by allowing people to interact publicly or privately. Many people use Facebook as a way to stay in contact while others use it to develop new connections. The objective of this study was to investigate how Facebook serves as medium in preserving romantic relationships of faculty members, staff and students of the university. The study used a descriptive-survey and correlational research designs to determine if there is a relationship between the variables. A questionnaire was utilized to determine respondents’ use of Facebook and status of romantic relationships in terms of partner surveillance, relationship satisfaction, self-disclosure and social intimacy. The results revealed that Facebook influence the preservation of romantic relationship as the study found a slight positive relationship between the partner surveillance and relationship satisfaction. The increase in partner surveillance will lead to an increase of relationship satisfaction; hence the absence of it can push a relationship into a negative state. However, other important factors like affectionate communications can lead to relationship satisfaction. Therefore, it was recommended that a strong communication/interaction between couples is needed in maintaining romantic relationship; there is a need of a school program to guide the students, faculty and staff in handling healthy relationship and affectionate communication shall be given value in maintaining romantic relationship.
Keywords: Facebook, relationship satisfaction, romantic relationship, Social Networking Sites (SNS).