Facebook as a Communicational Tool in Romantic Relationships of European and North American Adolescents and Young Adults

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Communications - Interpersonal Communication, grade: 1.7, University of Bremen (Department of Sociology), course: B.A. Sociology, language: English, abstract: A relatively small amount of research addresses romantic relationship communication on Facebook. However, the aim of this literature review was to conclude current research about romantic relationship communication of European and North American adolescents and young adults on Facebook.
Communication behaviours were observed in Knapp¿s (1978) three relational stages: formation, maintenance, and dissolution. Facebook was found to be a significant communicational tool for adolescents and young adults in romantic relationships. Findings displayed that not only communication between partners but also between couple and network influence relationship outcomes. The availability of information can lead to dialectical struggles between relationship partners (Baxter, 2011), and high levels of social control from romantic relationship partners¿ networks.
A special importance of Facebook was found in the relationship formation, where Facebook serves as the main tool to communicate and to gather information about potential and existing partners. Relationship maintenance on Facebook requires publications of relationship information. The frequency and importance of those publications depends on the relationship partners and their Facebook networks. No research has been conducted on relationship dissolutions on Facebook yet. Although, research on behaviours after the dissolution revealed that former partners cleared their profiles from information connected to ex-partners. Harassment and monitoring of ex-partners were also reported behaviours. More research is needed to provide sufficient evidence to validate the presented data. Additionally, only a small amount of research addresses the reliability of offline behaviour and links between offline and online behaviour in the field of romantic relationships.