Adolescent Romantic Relationship–Oriented Facebook Behaviors: Implications for Self-Esteem

Abstract

Despite the consistent, high use of Facebook among adolescents, few studies have examined how adolescents use Facebook when forming and maintaining romantic relationships. Based on the Internet-enhanced self-disclosure hypothesis, romantic relationship–oriented Facebook behaviors are likely to relate to adolescent self-esteem. The goal of this study is to examine romantic relationship–oriented Facebook behaviors (private exchanges, monitoring, public displays, and oversharing information) between adolescents and their romantic partners or crushes, and then test how these behaviors relate to self-esteem. Data come from an online survey of adolescents from the Midwestern United States who are current Facebook users. Results demonstrated that the most common romantic relationship–oriented Facebook behavior was monitoring. Regression analyses revealed that monitoring predicted lower adolescent self-esteem. Relationship satisfaction moderated the association between self-esteem and both private exchanges and oversharing information. Implications for adolescent romantic relationship development are discussed.