Document Type
Thesis
First Faculty Advisor
Chris Morse
Second Faculty Advisor
Ronald Deluga
Keywords
trust; satisfaction; romantic relationships; social media; tracking apps
Publisher
Bryant University
Rights Management
CC - BY
Abstract
Social media is a form of technology that is on a constant rise, especially in areas of both growth and development. The world has been continuing to change in many ways because of it and the connections made between individuals have been affected. An area specifically impacted by social media is relational communication between romantic partners. Social media’s rise allows individuals to disclose information about themselves with a simple click of a button. This enables others to view stereotypes and compare their lives with others, which could be seen as an unrealistic standard. This thesis focuses on the discovery of digital media’s positive and negative attributes and how they impact trust levels and relational satisfaction between college-aged students who are currently involved in a romantic relationship or have recently ended a romantic relationship in the last six months. There has been data collected from college-aged students to discover the true impact that these platforms hold on trust and relational satisfaction. Analyses have been collected through regressions and correlations to predict findings associated with the focused research questions of this study. The behaviors and attitudes of college-aged students based on survey results will provide insight on the true impact of content and tracking apps and how it is impacting trust and satisfaction in these relationships.
Comments
With the rise in social media and tracking apps, there have also been noticeable changes in the way humans interact. Given the rise in popularity of the apps TikTok, Instagram, Life 360, and Find My Friends, we wanted to investigate if their use has negatively impacted trust/relational satisfaction between romantic partners.