Introduction 

With the growth of the internet, social media have become an important part of young individuals’ romantic relationships (Fox, Warber & Makstaller, 2013; Papp, Danielewicz, & Cayemberg, 2012). Social media continue to matter even after a romantic relationship has ended. One particularly interesting use of social media post-relationship dissolution is interpersonal electronic surveillance, a goal-oriented behavior over communication technologies to gain awareness of another user’s offline and/or online behaviors (Tokunaga, 2011). Studies have shown that such behaviors are associated with negative psychological outcomes such as low partner trust (Tokunaga, 2016), cognitive jealousy (Muise, Christofides, & Desmarais, 2009), and relationship dissatisfaction (Elphinston & Noller, 2011). One specific outcome that is associated with interpersonal electronic surveillance is post-dissolution distress, an intense and prolonged period of grief following a loss (Fox & Tokunaga, 2015; Lukacs & Quan-Haase, 2015). While this particular outcome has been studied in the past, it is important to replicate previous work. Studies have also shown that gender and breakup initiation have led to different levels of post-dissolution distress (Field, Diego, Pelaez, Deeds, & Delgado, 2009; Helgeson, 1994; Sprecher, Felmlee, Metts, Fehr, & Vanni, 1998), therefore, this study will continue to examine gender and breakup initiation in post-dissolution distress. Identifying the relationship between post-dissolution interpersonal electronic surveillance and post-dissolution distress will help enhance the understanding of interpersonal electronic surveillance of former romantic partners and provide positive insights to human use of social media and emotional health. 

Literature Review 

Post-Dissolution Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance

Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance (IES) is characterized as a regardful and target specific behavior that individuals employed over information technologies to secretly acquire information of another user’s offline and/or online activities (Tokunaga, 2011). Concepts associated with IES are lateral surveillance and peer-to-peer monitoring, emerging strategies for individuals to use surveillance tools to monitor their peers such as family relatives and friends (Andrejevic, 2002). 

IES can occur between romantic partners and it can continue to happen even if the relationship has ended. Studies have shown that it is not novel for ex-partners to remain connected on social media (Lucas & Quan-Haase, 2015; Lyndon, Bonds-Raacke, & Cratty 2011). Such access to past partner’s ongoing activities after the breakup may encourage individual to apply more IES to the past partner (Fox & Tokunaga, 2015). However, whether remaining connected on social media, individuals can still get an estimated image of the past partner’s current activities, offline and/or online, through IES (Marshall, 2012). 

Post-Dissolution Distress 

Post-dissolution distress is defined as an “intense and prolonged period of grief following a loss” (Field et al., 2009, p.705). Studies have shown that individuals will experience greater post-dissolution distress when they are more committed and satisfied in the relationship (Sprecher et al., 1998), put greater effort in developing the relationship (Sprecher et al., 1998), not having initiated the breakup (Field et al., 2009) and have a fearful attachment style, an adult attachment style that is characterized by the drive of not getting involved in relationships to protect oneself (Fox & Tokunaga, 2015; Sprecher et al., 1998). 

Post-Dissolution IES and Post-Dissolution Distress

Studies have found a cyclical relationship between post-dissolution distress and post-dissolution IES: young people who engage in higher levels of post-dissolution IES will experience more post-dissolution distress (Lukacs & Quan-Haase, 2015) and post-dissolution distress often predicts partner monitoring following the breakup (Fox & Tokunaga, 2015). Marshall (2012) has also found that maintaining contact with the ex-partner on social media often leads to a longer period of distress. 

Gender and Breakup Initiation in Post-Dissolution Distress 

Studies have shown that gender and breakup initiation have led to different levels of post-dissolution distress (Field et al., 2009; Helgeson, 1994; Sprecher et al., 1998). Field and his associates (2009) have found that females had higher post-dissolution distress scores, yet Helgeson (1994) has found no gender difference in distress after breakup. While Sprecher et al. (1998) found that individuals who initiated a breakup experienced less post-dissolution distress, Helgeson (1994) found that breakup initiation led no difference of individuals’ post-dissolution distress level. 

The purpose of this survey study is to relate the post-dissolution interpersonal electronic surveillance, gender, and breakup initiation to post-dissolution distress for young adults. Although there has been much research in examining the relationship between post-dissolution interpersonal electronic surveillance and post-dissolution distress, it is important to replicate previous work. Given the existing findings, it is logical that there would be following hypotheses. 

H1: There is a positive relationship between post-dissolution interpersonal electronic surveillance and post-dissolution distress. 

H2: Females will experience more post-dissolution distress than males.

H3: There will be a statistically significant difference in post-dissolution distress between those who attribute the breakup to their partner and those who initiate the breakup. Those who attribute breakup to their partners will experience more post-dissolution distress. 

Methods

Participants 

The target population for this study is young adults with expected age range from eighteen to thirty. Participants will be recruited through class announcement made by their instructor in Spring Quarter from the undergraduate courses in the Department of Communication at University of Washington. Students who participate the research will receive extra credit. For those who decide not to take the survey, an alternative opportunity for extra credit will be provided. Individuals will be eligible to participate if they have experienced a breakup in the past 12 months and if both partners use social media. The estimated sample size is 378 based on a power analysis to make a good representation of the undergraduate population at UW (N=25,000; Confidence Level = 95%; Margin of Error = 0.05). 

Participants will be directed to a launch page where they will first enter their student ID number, which will be held separately from their study responses. Participants' student number will be collected, but this information will only be used to identify them to the instructors offering course credit in exchange for their participation. This information will be separated from their survey responses in order to maintain their confidentiality. They will then be redirected to the study page, and firstly read the informed consent online. Then participants will be asked to confirm their eligibility to participate in the study by verify that they understand the information in the consent form, they agree to participate in this study, and they at least 18 years of age. If participants consent to participate, the next page will be the questionnaire. Participants will be asked to fill out an online survey and advised in a private location. Study participation will take approximately 5-10 minutes. If participants feel uncomfortable with some of the questions in the survey, to minimize the harm, they are free to not answer or to skip the questions. Study data will be handled as confidentially as possible. To minimize the risks to confidentiality, data analysis will be conducted on a password protected computer and storage all study records in password protected Google Drive with limited access. 

Measures 

Screening 

Screening questions will be employed to help select participants for valid responses. 

1. Have you experienced a break up in the last 12 months? (Survey questions will ask you about this particular breakup) (Yes/No) 

2. Do you and your former romantic partner both use social media? (Yes/No) 

Demographic 

Demographic questions will be employed to collect basic information of participants including gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation and the end date of their last romantic relationship. Participants will respond to 5 items. 

1. Gender (Choose from “Male, Female, Other, or Prefer to not share”) 

2. Age (Choose from the dropdown list) 

   “18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and above” 

3. Which of the following best represents your racial or ethnic heritage (Choose all that apply; choose from “Non-Hispanic White or Euro-American; Black, Afro-Caribbean, or African American; Latino or Hispanic American; East Asian or Asian American; South  Asian or Indian American; Middle Eastern or Arab American; Native American or Alaskan Native; Other; or Prefer to not share”)? 

4. Time since last breakup(weeks)? (Choose from the dropdown list) 

   “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52” 

Previous Relationship 

This set of questions will be employed to acquire basic information of participants’ last breakup of a romantic relationship within the last year. 

1. Please estimate how many weeks you were in this relationship (1 month = 4 weeks). (Choose from the dropdown list from 1 to 200+) 

2. Please estimate the number of weeks since the breakup occurred (1 month = 4 weeks). (Choose from the dropdown list from 1 to 52+) 

3. Who initiated the breakup? (Choose from I did/ Mostly me/ We both did/ Mostly my partner/ My former partner did) 

Internet and Social media Behaviors 

This set of questions will be employed to collect participants’ internet and social media behaviors related to the ex-romantic partner that they answered about in the previous set of questions. 

1. While you were in this relationship, did you formally and visibility access your former partner’s social media profiles (e.g. you were friends on social media sites, you followed them on social media sites)? (Choose from Yes/No/I don't remember)

2. Are you currently formally and visibility connected to your former partner on social media? (e.g. you are friends or follow each other)? (Choose from Yes/No/I don't remember) 

3. Did you end any social media connections with your former partner after the breakup (e.g. unfriended them or stopped following them or blocked them)? (Choose from Yes/No/I don't remember) 

4. If you ended social media connections with your former partner, approximately how many weeks after the breakup did this occur? (Choose from the dropdown list from 1 to 52+) 

5. While you were in this relationship did you informally or invisibly access your former partner’s social media profiles (e.g. look at their profile or content without being friends/following them, look at their content via a mutual friend’s account)? (Choose from Yes/No/I don't remember) 

6. In the first 2 weeks after the break up, did you informally or invisibly access your former partner’s social media profiles? (Choose from Yes/No/I don't remember) 

7. Do you currently informally or invisibly access your former partner’s social media profiles? (Choose from Yes/No/I don't remember) 

Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance 

The Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance Scale, first developed by Tonkunaga (2011) and updated since, will be employed to assess partner monitoring via social media. Participants will respond to sixteen items on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = ‘‘strongly disagree’’; 7 = ‘‘strongly agree’’; M = 2.82, SD = 1.57; Cronbach’s α = 0.97). 

1. I often monitor online information about my past partner’s relationships.

2. I actively read online information involving my past partner to get information about his or her relationships outside our own. 

3. I frequently look through my past partner’s online pictures or videos to get information about his or her relationships outside our own. 

4. I pay close attention to online content involving my past partner to get information about his or her relationships. 

5. I use the Internet to check up on my past partner through available updates. 

6. I use the Internet to monitor the new relationships my past partner makes online. 

7. I carefully supervise online messages that my past partner exchanges with others. 

8. I look at what my past partner writes online to gather information about his or her relationships with others. 

9. I am aware of my past partner’s interactions with others using the Internet. 

10. I check up on online to see who my past partner is maintaining relationships with. 

11. I use the Internet to keep informed about my past partner’s activities outside our relationship. 

12. I use the Internet to gather information about my past partner’s online relationships. 

13. I monitor the online activity between my past partner and new people I don’t know who are connected to him or her. 

14. I keep close tabs on what my past partner is doing through the internet. 

15. I look online for information about at my past partner’s relationships outside our own. 

16. I supervise my past partner through the Internet. 

The Intensity and Duration of Emotional Distress Index measures post-dissolution distress (Simpson, 1987). Three items assess the emotional intensity of the breakup (1 = ‘‘not at all’’; 5 = ‘‘extremely’’), and one item will assess the duration of those feelings (1 = ‘‘no time at all’’; 8 = ‘‘more than 2 months’’; M = 14.86, SD = 5.26; Cronbach’s α = 0.84). 

1. Immediately after the breakup occurred, how difficult was it for you to make an emotional adjustment? 

2. Immediately after the breakup occurred, to what extent did it disrupt your typical, everyday function? 

3. How upset where you immediately after the breakup? 

4. How long were you upset after the breakup? 

Breakup Initiation 

Participants will be asked to indicate who they think initiated the breakup. Participants respond on 5-point scale (1 = “I did”; 2 = “mostly me”; 3 = “we both did”; 4 = “mostly my partner”; 5 = “my partner did”) (Fox & Tokunaga, 2015). 

Analysis/Results 

There were 212 participants who enrolled in undergraduate communication courses at UW joined the study for one extra course credit. The data collection period was from April 4, 2018 to April 29, 2018. There were 181 valid responses (MAge = 19.74; SDAge = 1.49; 71 Males; 107 Females) from participants who had a break up within the last year and both them and their former partner were social media users. 

Two separate ANOVA (Two-Factor Without Replication) were tested on both Post-Dissolution Distress and IES scales. There are 4 items in the Post-Dissolution Distress scale (additive: 4 - 23), and the Cronbach’s α for the 4 items is .84, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency. There are 16 items in the IES scale (average: 1- 7), and the Cronbach’s α for the 4 items is .98, suggesting that the items have excellent internal consistency. 

Hypothesis 1 considered whether post-dissolution interpersonal electronic surveillance and post-dissolution distress are positively correlated. Pearson’s correlation coefficient test suggested that post-dissolution interpersonal electronic surveillance and post-dissolution distress was moderately positively correlated (r = .43) which is not strong enough to support the hypothesis. 

Hypothesis 2 predicted that there is a significant difference between males and females in experiencing post-dissolution distress. A T-test was employed. The results showed that there is no significant effect for gender with female reporting higher scores on post-dissolution distress than males (MFemale = 15.17 (5.30), MMale = 14.4 (5.25), p = .17). The hypothesis is not supported. 

Hypothesis 3 predicted that there is a significant difference between those who attribute to the breakup to their partner and those who initiate the breakup on post-dissolution distress. T-test indicated that those who attributed to the breakup to their partner has a significantly higher score on the post-dissolution distress (MDistress = 17.84(1.61), MIES = 13.18(1.67), p < .001). This hypothesis is supported. 

Discussion 

This study was a replication of previous research on post-dissolution distress and IES. It aligned with previous results that IES and post-dissolution distress have moderately positive correlation. Likely due to the sensitiveness and private nature of this topic, social desirability may play a role. Participants may experience embarrassment when self-reporting interpersonal online surveillance behaviors (MIES = 45.12, MAXIES = 121). This study also revealed that there is no gender difference in distress after breakup and breakup initiation did lead a difference of individuals’ post-dissolution distress level. This study shed light on those findings by recognizing the IES behaviors in the stage of post-dissolution. 

To better understand the dataset, further analyses were employed among gender on IES, friend status (whether still remain friend on social media after the breakup) on IES, neutral breakup (participants attribute breakup on both them and their partners) on IES, and age, number of weeks since the breakup occurred on IES and Post-dissolution distress. 

Although it was found that there is no gender difference in experiencing post-dissolution distress, it was interesting that gender has a significant effect on IES with female had higher score on IES than males (MFemale = 3.03(1.63), MMale = 2.52(1.45), p = 0.015). Moreover, when took a look at time since break up occurred, it was found that those who have experienced a breakup less than 24 weeks reporting higher score on post-dissolution distress than those experienced a breakup more than 24 weeks (M24-weeks = 14.11(4.96), M24+weeks = 16.03(5.57), p = 0.008). However, results showed that it is not statistically significant for number of weeks since the breakup occurred to have an effect on IES (M24-weeks = 2.80, M24+weeks = 2.85, p = 0.41). 

Limitation and Further Directions 

Although this study accounted for gender, this sample was not reflective in terms of participants’ sexual orientation, sexually identified individuals may be recruited specifically in future studies. Additionally, this sample is relatively young (MAge = 19.74; SDAge = 1.49) and the sample size is not big enough to represent the whole population in UW. One suggestion for future studies is that they may want to look at different age groups in a larger scale. 

Another limitation is that this study focused on social media platforms in general and future research may examine in detail about how people appropriate different technologies for IES. Moreover, it would be interesting to see studies determine the factors that lead to the beginning of IES. 

One more interesting area for future research is to see how people regulate information, manage strategies, and change IES behaviors over time in the ever-changing technology landscape. Given the widespread use of IES and its negative influence in delaying the process of breakup recovery, future studies should also continuingly determine such behaviors’ consequences in people’ and society. 

Continued research in the field of social media and post-dissolution will reveal the insights and strategies that lead to positive human use of social media, emotional health, and interpersonal outcomes. In the meantime, social media users should be aware of the significance and potential effects when applying IES behaviors on their former partners through social media.