Investigating the Associations between Social Media Addiction, Marital Beliefs, and Attitudes toward Cohabitation during Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

Emerging adults’ exposure to social networking sites is at a considerable level, and such use may complicate beliefs regarding marriage. However, little is known about whether social media use is an influential factor in shaping emerging adults’ marital beliefs and attitudes toward cohabitation. Thus, we extended previous research by examining the links between the addictive use of social media, marital salience, marital timing, and attitudes toward cohabitation in a sample of undergraduates. A group of 433 never-married university students (347 female and 86 male) aged 18–26 (M = 20.41, SD = 1.48) participated in the study. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze the data. The results indicated that social media addiction was not a significant predictor of emerging adults’ marital salience and marital timing beliefs. However, emerging adults’ attitudes toward cohabitation were significantly predicted by social media addiction. The results are discussed in light of the literature, and recommendations are offered.