Information, Communication & Society

ISSN: 1369-118X (Print) 1468-4462 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rics20

Romantic breakups on Facebook: new scales for

studying post-breakup behaviors, digital distress,
and surveillance
Veronika Lukacs & Anabel Quan-Haase
To cite this article: Veronika Lukacs & Anabel Quan-Haase (2015) Romantic breakups on
Facebook: new scales for studying post-breakup behaviors, digital distress, and surveillance,
Information, Communication & Society, 18:5, 492-508, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1008540
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1008540

Published online: 24 Feb 2015.

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Information, Communication & Society, 2015

Vol. 18, No. 5, 492508, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1008540

Romantic breakups on Facebook: new scales for studying post-breakup

behaviors, digital distress, and surveillance
Veronika Lukacsa and Anabel Quan-Haasea,b*
a

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Department of Information and Media Studies, Western University, London, ON, Canada N6A 5B7;
Department of Sociology, Western University, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C2

(Received 28 October 2014; accepted 13 January 2015)

Research on Facebook has primarily focused on the benets of social connectivity, paying little
attention to the ways in which this social networking site complicates the termination of
romantic relationships. The present exploratory study employs a mixed-methods approach to
examine the breakup practices of young people on Facebook and to develop new scales for
measuring surveillance of an ex and Facebook breakup distress. The aim of the study is to
better understand the relationship between internet electronic surveillance and breakup
distress. Findings show that content on Facebook can be a signicant source of distress for
individuals after a breakup. Young people who engage in higher levels of internet electronic
surveillance experience more breakup distress. A methodological innovation of our study is
the integration of narrative data obtained from in-depth interviews with survey results,
highlighting how qualitative analysis can enrich quantitative studies examining social
networking. We discuss implications for research into social relations, breakups, and social
media.
Keywords: Facebook; social networking sites; social media; breakup; breakup distress;
internet electronic surveillance

Facebook reported having about 1.11 billion monthly active users as of March 2013 (Facebook,
2013), making it the most popular social networking site (SNS) to date. Of these active users, 655
million log in at least once a day (Facebook, 2013). Facebook is not just a pastime activity geared
toward entertainment and fun; rather, a large body of work is emerging that directly links Facebook use to a number of positive outcomes, including the formation and consolidation of identity
as well as the creation and maintenance of social capital (Ellison, Steineld, & Lampe, 2006,
2007, 2011; Lampe, Ellison, & Steineld, 2007). Despite the growing evidence of the benets
of Facebook use, the majority of studies neglect to investigate the potential downside of internet
connectivity. While Facebook may make it easier to maintain contact with friends and to stay
informed about their lives, the sites emphasis on connectivity can also be argued to present signicant challenges when it comes to breaking off contact and especially with past romantic
partners.
In her book, Breakup 2.0, Gershon (2010) explores the complexities of going through a
breakup when immersed in digital technologies. Gershons (2010) ndings show that media
*Corresponding author. Email: aquan@uwo.ca
2015 Taylor & Francis

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usage during a breakup is shaped by media ideologies which she denes as a set of beliefs about
communicative technologies with which users and designers explain perceived media structure
and meaning (p. 3). These media ideologies inuence how people react on Facebook and
other social media following a breakup. For instance, as Facebook has become so ingrained in
daily life and has been linked to many social benets, there is little incentive for users to
remove a connection on Facebook or even less so to delete their Facebook accounts altogether
(Gershon, 2010). A persons media ideology may dictate that even the most casual acquaintances
are acceptable Facebook Friends; therefore, in the context of romantic breakups, an individual
may be reluctant to delete their ex-partner even when it is in their best interest to do so
(Gershon, 2010; Holmes, 2010). Furthermore, unfriending an ex-partner does not guarantee
that one will no longer receive updates on Facebook about the ex-partners life through a
mutual friends prole, further reiterating the potential downside of Facebook connectivity and
weak-tie connections.
In the present study, we examine how Facebook has affected romantic breakups. Prevalent
research has linked romantic breakups to negative psychosocial outcomes, such as distress,
depression, and lack of self-concept clarity (Field, Diego, Pelaez, Deeds, & Delgado, 2009,
2010; Moller, McCarthy, & Fouladi, 2002). Additionally, research suggests that keeping in
touch with an ex-partner may inhibit an individuals ability to get over a romantic breakup
(Kross, Egner, Ochsner, Hirsh, & Downey, 2007; Marshall, 2012; Marshall, Bejanyan, & Di
Castro, 2013; Sbarra & Emery, 2005). This problem is exacerbated by the fact that surveillance
activities have been amplied online, as a response to the changing etiquette involving online
identities and romantic relationships (Raynes-Goldie, 2010; Tokunaga, 2011; Young & QuanHaase, 2013). Previous research has documented interpersonal electronic surveillance (IES) as
a common practice by those participating in SNSs. The present study investigates, through an
online survey and in-depth interviews, how Facebook affects breakups, and has three primary
aims. First, it proposes the development of a new scale to measure romantic breakup distress
with regard to social media. Scales currently available in the literature measure breakup distress
(Field et al., 2010), but there is no scale available measuring Facebook breakup distress. Second,
the study examines how internet electronic surveillance affects individuals feelings of distress as
they go through the breakup. Romantic breakups can be deeply distressing events, and Facebook
has complicated the breakup process further. We also propose a new scale to measure Facebook
surveillance of an ex-partner. Third, we examine how variables previously identied as signicant
in the breakup literature hope for romantic renewal, liking of an ex-partner, and social network
overlap are associated with Facebook surveillance of an ex-partner and breakup distress.
Finally, the study utilizes an original method combining narrative data obtained from in-depth
interviews with survey results. Narrative data provide depth and enrich our understanding of
larger patterns identied in the quantitative analysis. This research has implications for theories
of new media and sociability, as well as for our understanding of how young people experience
and cope with breakup distress.
Literature review
Romantic breakups consist of the dissolution of a relationship between two partners. Even though
breakups among young people could be easily dismissed as being inconsequential, a recent social
trend shows that the age for marriage has increased. While in the 1970s, the median age at rst
marriage was 21 years for brides and 23 years for grooms, this number increased in 2001 to 28 and
30 years for brides and grooms, respectively (Beaujot & Kerr, 2004). Hence, common-law unions
often delay or replace marriage and, according to Statistics Canada data from 2002, 63% of rst
unions among women aged 2029 were common-law unions, which are twice as likely to end in

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separation than rst marriages (Beaujot & Kerr, 2007). As such, many individuals are experiencing romantic breakups from relationships that are except for formal union indistinguishable
from marriage, and thus have similar negative psychological and emotional repercussions. SNSs
further complicate romantic breakups, necessitating further investigation into how unprecedented
access to information about an ex-partners life can affect breakup distress, well-being, and the
ability to move on. In this section, we examine the literature on breakup distress, IES, and the
key relationship dimensions in breakups identied in previous studies. Based on this review, a
series of hypotheses are proposed.
Effects of romantic breakups on distress
Romantic breakups have been linked to a number of negative psychosocial outcomes, including
distress (Field et al., 2009, 2010; Moller et al., 2002) and depression (Monroe, Rohde, Seeley, &
Lewinsohn, 1999). Furthermore, breakup withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, trouble concentrating, and depression, are similar to withdrawal symptoms associated with addictive substances (Bartels & Zeki, 2000; Gilbert, Gilbert, & Schultz, 1998). Monroe et al. (1999) found
that romantic breakups were a risk factor for the rst onset of a major depressive disorder. Moreover, the event of a recent breakup was a strong predictor of depressive episodes, and 46% of the
rst onsets of major depressive disorder were preceded by a recent breakup, even when other
stressful life events were controlled for. However, in this study, a recent breakup did not
predict recurrence of depression.
Field et al. (2009) argued that symptoms of grief are distinct from symptoms of depression
and thus require a unique measurement. To appropriately measure distress following a
breakup, the researchers developed and tested the Breakup Distress Scale (BDS), consisting of
16 items measuring a persons emotional response to a breakup. Items on the scale include preoccupation with thoughts of the breakup, crying, not accepting the breakup, and being stunned by
the breakup. In Field et al.s (2009) study, the most important predictors of breakup distress were:
an individuals depression score, feelings of being betrayed, and a higher rating of the relationship
prior to the breakup. High breakup distress was further related to having less time since the
breakup occurred, feeling rejected and betrayed, not having initiated the breakup, not having
yet found a new relationship, and the suddenness of the breakup. This body of work suggests
that distress is an important construct in predicting how much a person has been affected by
the breakup, their general emotional state, and their ability to move on after the breakup.
In a follow-up study, Field et al. (2010) examined the relationship between breakup distress
and reasons for the breakup. The researchers found that low intimacy, high relationship ratings
before the breakup, and high ratings for missing the person were related to high breakup distress.
In this study, low intimacy was marked by poor communication, distrust, unreciprocated love,
non-caring behavior, diminishing empathy, arguments, indelity, and hypersensitivity. Overall,
previous research has demonstrated that romantic breakups are often accompanied by negative
psychosocial outcomes. To our knowledge, no scale currently exists that measures the breakup
distress associated with Facebook use during and after a breakup. As a result, this study develops
a new scale that measures breakup distress on Facebook based on Field et al.s (2010) previously
developed and tested BDS.
IES in a breakup
The emergence of the networked society has facilitated improvements in interpersonal communication, but has also increased the potential for surveillance and monitoring behaviors on the internet (Lyon, 2001; Lyon & Zureik, 1996). Online communities and SNSs have provided an avenue

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for unprecedented access to personal information, which accordingly has affected the norms of
privacy in our society as interpersonal interactions increasingly move into the virtual space
(Raynes-Goldie, 2010; Young & Quan-Haase, 2013). Marx (2004) has echoed this sentiment
by referring to social surveillance in contemporary society as a period of time where large
social change is happening with regard to the merging of personal and social borders. Ultimately,
the intensication of a social media culture has enabled strangers, acquaintances, friends, family,
and even romantic partners to monitor one another (Andrejevic, 2005).
This pervasive phenomenon has been regarded under the umbrella of IES. There have been
multiple conceptualizations of online surveillance; however, IES can be generally characterized
as surreptitious strategies individuals use over communication technologies to gain awareness
of another users ofine and/or online behaviors (Tokunaga, 2011, p. 706). Andrejevic (2005)
has reported a recent societal shift toward lateral surveillance, which he identied as peer-topeer monitoring, understood as the use of surveillance tools by individuals, rather than by
agents of institutions public or private, to keep track of one another (p. 488). This universal
and pervasive behavior of peers has prompted Tufekci (2007) to label IES activities as grassroots
surveillance because the convergence of media makes everyone a potential spy, voyeur, and
documenter of life (p. 40).
Surveillance also occurs between romantic partners; constant monitoring of a partner, which
may have been considered excessive in the past, is now becoming normalized (Andrejevic, 2005;
Gershon, 2010; Muise, Christodes, & Desmarais, 2009; Tokunaga, 2011). Increasingly, individuals are using technology to screen potential love interests or are installing surveillance software
on computers to assess spousal delity. Furthermore, even routine Facebook use can be associated
with surveillance of a romantic partner and subsequent problematic behavior both online and
ofine (Tokunaga, 2011). Lyndon, Bonds-Raacke, and Cratty (2011) posited that SNSs represent
a form of communication that allows for a sense of distance while maintaining the power of
immediacy (p. 714) such that they represent a means to facilitate IES and cyberstalking behaviors. In essence, SNSs are public or semipublic forums, making them an enticing outlet in
which to exercise surveillance.
Tokunaga (2011) tested Andrejevics (2005) observations in a study exploring IES in
romantic relationships. IES was dened in this study as the use of communication technologies
to gain awareness of anothers online and/or ofine behaviors. To measure IES behavior, Tokunaga (2011) created a 15-item scale and found that time spent on SNSs, whether or not it is
part of a persons daily routine, and how condent one is with SNSs were associated with
greater amounts of IES (Tokunaga, 2011). Similar ndings were reported by Clayton, Nagurney, and Smith (2013). The researchers found that increased Facebook usage led to related
conict and accordingly negative relationship outcomes such as breakup/divorce, emotional
cheating, and physical cheating (Clayton et al., 2013). Furthermore, Marshall et al. (2013)
reported that attachment styles were linked to incidences of interpersonal surveillance and jealousy on Facebook: avoidance was negatively associated with Facebook monitoring and jealousy, while anxiety was positively associated. Other studies have previously made similar
connections, suggesting a reduction in relationship uncertainty as the driving force for engaging in Facebook surveillance (Stern & Taylor, 2007; Tokunaga, 2011). Moreover, SNSs
have been linked to cyberstalking behaviors and stalking preconditions such as technologybased harassment and repeated demands for intimacy that are not desired by the other
person (Lyndon et al., 2011). Lyndon et al. (2011) discovered that cyber obsessional pursuit
behaviors predicted obsessive relational pursuit almost six times higher than for non-harassing
participants in a college student sample. This study also reported that covert provocation was
the most commonly reported negative communication behavior between ex-partners on
Facebook.

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We argue that greater amounts of IES of an ex-partner will lead to higher levels of breakup
distress and Facebook breakup distress. Marshall (2012) found that Facebook surveillance
was associated with greater current distress over the breakup, more negative feelings, sexual
desire, and longing for the ex-partner, and lower personal growth (p. 521). This study further
demonstrated that remaining Facebook friends with an ex-partner was linked to lower personal
growth but not negative feelings for the ex-partner (Marshall, 2012). Therefore, Marshall
(2012) concluded that both growth and post-breakup recovery may be hindered by sustained
and persistent contact with an ex-partner on Facebook, which may limit the ability to move
on, even if the exposure is based on weak ties. On SNSs, individuals leave behind a trail of
their interactions in the forms of text exchanges, photos, posts, and likes. Van Dijck (2007)
argued that these digital footprints are material triggers of personal memories and that mediated
memories are located both in the brain and within material culture, the latter of which takes on a
new form in the digital age. Images, wall posts, and private messages on Facebook should allow
people to recreate memories as material objects do. In the context of a breakup, these memories
could be reminders of a happier time in the relationship, or they could be reminders of the painful
breakup. Melander (2010) discussed digital traces in the context of online harassment among intimate partners. Partners who are ghting are able to post public slanderous comments online about
the person they were dating. Gershon (2010) noted that it can take weeks before Facebook determines that the message is abusive and takes action to remove it long after it would have been
seen by the ex-partners social network. Therefore, the near permanence and accessibility of an
ex-partners activity and information on Facebook may lead toward higher levels of distress. Currently, no measure of IES of an ex-partner exists and we propose to develop a new scale, the IES
of Ex-partner Scale based on Tokunagas (2011) previously tested IES scale. In addition, we
propose the following two hypotheses on IES of an ex-partner:
H1: Individuals who do not have access to their ex-partners Facebook prole will experience lower
levels of breakup distress and Facebook breakup distress than those individuals who do have access to
their ex-partners prole.
H2: Amongst those who do have access to their ex-partners prole, there will be a positive association between IES of an ex-partner and (a) general breakup distress, (b) Facebook activity-based distress, and (c) Facebook emotional-based distress.

Relationship dimensions and romantic breakups

Peoples attitudes toward their past relationships are also important determinants of how they cope
with a breakup (Lannutti & Cameron, 2002; Sbarra, 2006). Sbarra (2006) examined emotional
recovery after romantic breakups. Emotional recovery was operationalized by comparing the
expression of anger and sadness to levels existent within an intact relationship (Sbarra, 2006,
p. 299). It was found that 62% of participants experienced sadness recovery, and 67% experienced
anger recovery; however, breakup initiator status was not related to recovery rates. Rather, Sbarra
(2006) noted that sadness recovery was inhibited by attachment preoccupation, and self-reported
love for an ex-partner. Individuals who continue to care for an ex-partner and are hoping to get
back together, have a harder time recovering from the breakup.
In their study of post-dissolutional friendships, Lannutti and Cameron (2002) found that personal variables, such as hope for romantic renewal, the amount of liking for an ex-partner, and
uniqueness of the relationship were the strongest predictors as to whether or not a post-dissolutional
relationship would remain. Post-dissolutional relationship refers to a renewal of the relationship after
the breakup, one that is non-romantic. Individuals who wished to get back together with their expartners attempted to communicate with them more frequently and were more dissatised with

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their post-dissolutional relationship (Lannutti & Cameron, 2002). Furthermore, the following two
variables were associated with less satisfaction in a same-sex post-dissolutional relationship: the
longer the relationship had lasted prior to the breakup and the higher the extent to which the participant hoped to renew the relationship after the breakup.
Lannutti and Cameron (2002) also examined the degree to which the former partners had
overlapping social networks. Former partners with overlapping social networks were less
likely to redene the relationship into a friendship; therefore, this group would also be expected
to be more likely to engage in surveillance of their ex-partners and to feel distressed by content
pertaining to their exes on Facebook. Moreover, Lannutti and Cameron (2002) found that individuals who had a greater amount of liking for their exes were more satised with their post-dissolutional friendships. As such, it is predicted that people with a greater amount of liking for their exes
may use Facebook to check in on their exes, but not to a problematic extent. Additionally, this
group should not be as distressed by content pertaining to their exes on Facebook. Based on
this literature, we propose that:
H3: There will be a positive association between people who hope to get back together with their expartner, IES of an ex-partner, and breakup distress.
H4: There will be a positive association between people who have overlapping social networks, IES of
an ex-partner, and breakup distress.
H5: There will be a negative association between people who show a high degree of liking of their expartner and both IES of an ex-partner and breakup distress.

Overall, most of the literature on Facebook focuses on romantic relationships or friendships rather
than romantic breakups. Therefore, there is a need to expand research in this eld and examine
romantic breakups on Facebook in greater depth. In particular, the concept of IES may
improve understanding as to why it is so difcult for individuals to move on following a
breakup when memories of the relationship in the form of wall posts, pictures, and likes continue to be readily accessible. In addition, Facebook makes it easy to continue hoping for
renewal, feeding a potential obsession with an ex-partner. We utilize a mixed-methods approach
consisting of an online survey and in-depth semi-structured interviews to examine the hypotheses.

Methods
Sample
The questionnaire sample consisted of 107 participants, who ranged in age from 18 to 35 years
(M = 23). Recruitment took place via social media and word of mouth. The sample was primarily
Canadian, from Southwestern Ontario. Seventy-four participants were post-secondary students
(69%) and 31 were not (29%), with 2 unidentied. Males were underrepresented in the questionnaire sample (30%) in comparison to female respondents (70%). However, these numbers are not
representative of the actual breakdown of users by sex on Facebook. According to Hampton,
Goulet, Rainie, and Purcell (2011), 43% of Facebook users are male and 58% are female. Furthermore, the same study found that women tend to be more active Facebook users than men; they
update their status and comment on others posts more frequently.
The average duration of the romantic relationship in this study was 2.29 years (Mdn = 1.5, SD
= 1.86). At the time of data collection, 48% of the sample reported that the breakup had occurred
less than 6 months prior to the study and 52% reported that it had taken place between 6 and 12
months prior to the study. Twenty-two percent of participants were breakup initiators, 44% were
non-initiators, and 34% indicated that the split was mutual. The participants reported signicant
variability in terms of their number of friends on Facebook. The number of Facebook friends

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participants had ranged from 69 to 1800 (M = 484; SD = 315). A Facebook friend can constitute
both strong and weak ties, such that real friends, acquaintances, and even strangers are included.
Moreover, 65% of participants reported that they update their Facebook prole once a month or
more, and 35% said they updated their proles rarely or a few times a year.
A key criterion for eligibility to participate in this study was that the person needed to report
having had a breakup in the past 12 months. Given this constraint for inclusion, the study utilized
a convenience sample. Recruitment strategies combined posters and snowball sampling as an
effective way to target a population that is difcult to locate and to recruit. Forty-three percent
of participants indicated that they learned about the study directly from one of the researchers,
41% indicated that they heard about the study through a friend on Facebook, and 16% indicated
that they heard about the study through a poster on campus.

Procedure
The research design consisted of a mixed-methods approach comprised of a closed-ended, multiple-choice online survey instrument powered by Google Docs and semi-structured interviews.
A mixed-methods approach was ideal for this study for several reasons. First, there is little
information about post-breakup behaviors as they take place on Facebook, so conducting a
quantitative study lled this research gap. Second, the interviews allowed for interviewees to
discuss in detail their level of distress after the breakup and the role played by Facebook.
By using both qualitative and quantitative analyses, both research depth and breadth were
achieved.
Survey research was used to answer these research questions for several reasons. Previous
research has demonstrated the effectiveness of surveys in studies examining Facebook use and
IES (Tokunaga, 2011) and Facebook use and jealousy-related feelings and behaviors (Muise
et al., 2009). Furthermore, surveys have also been effective in studies examining the variables
related to various breakup outcomes (Field et al., 2009; Helgeson, 1994; Lannutti & Cameron,
2002; Villella, 2010). The present study continued this line of research as it included scale
items developed by other researchers in an attempt to standardize research within the eld and
to allow for easier comparison between studies. The survey was available online between September 2011 and February 2012, and participants were recruited throughout this time frame.
One-on-one semi-structured interviews took place with research participants in order to determine how people cope with romantic breakups when they and their ex-partner both have a Facebook account. The answers were expected to be unique to each individuals personal situation in
order to capture the complexity of subjective motivations, which cannot be easily translated into
scaled items on a survey. The interviewees were given pseudonyms for anonymity and condentiality reasons.

Measurement
IES of ex-partner
Respondents were asked to rate 11 items adopted from Tokunagas (2011) revised IES Scale for
SNSs about an individuals online surveillance practices. The scale was modied to measure the
extent to which a participant monitors the behaviors of an ex-partner on Facebook. Items were
ranked on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly
agree (see Table 1).1 To evade overlap with other survey items, items number 8 and 9 were
deleted from the IES of ex-partner scale used in this study. The Cronbachs reliability for the
modied scale was .93.

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Table 1.

499

IES of ex-partner.

IES items

Mean

SD

1. When visiting my exs Facebook prole, I read the new posts of his/her friends
2. I peruse my exs Facebook prole to see what s/hes up to
3. I explore my exs Facebook prole to see if there is anything new or exciting
4. I notice when my ex updates his/her Facebook prole
5. I am generally aware of the relationships between my ex and his/her Facebook friends
6. I visit my exs Facebook prole often
7. I pay particularly close attention to news feeds that concern my ex
8. If there are messages on my exs wall I dont understand, I try to investigate it through
others Facebook proles
9. I know when my ex hasnt updated his/her Facebook prole in a while
10. I often spend time looking through my exs Facebook pictures
11. I try to monitor my exs behaviors though his/her Facebook prole

3.42
3.23
3.11
2.96
2.84
2.74
2.59
2.56

1.18
1.15
1.23
1.28
1.22
1.14
1.26
1.28

2.54
2.49
2.47

1.25
1.18
1.21

Note: n = 57.

Breakup distress
To measure the level of distress following a breakup, we utilized Field et al.s (2010) 16-item
BDS. The scale was modied from the original 4-point Likert-type format into a 5-point scale
ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The reliability of the developed
scale was Cronbachs = .94. Sample items included: I think about this person so much that
its hard for me to do things I normally do and Memories of the person upset me.
Facebook breakup distress
We developed a new scale in order to measure breakup distress caused by content pertaining to
ones ex-partner on Facebook. The 11 items of the new scale were loosely based on Field
et al.s (2010) BDS: six items can be matched onto Field et al.s scale and ve were newly
developed to assess specic feelings of distress linked to Facebook activity. Items were rated
on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. A
principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation was conducted to examine the
dimensions of the new scale and to examine how it mapped onto the BDS. A total of 11 Facebook breakup distress statements were included in the analysis. Missing values were excluded
listwise yielding a sample size of N = 72. The results yielded two factors with eigenvalues
greater than 1. Following the results of the factor loadings, means, standard deviations, and
Cronbachs values were computed for the two factors (see Table 2). Face validity showed
that one factor measured activity-based distress, while the other measured emotional-based distress. The variance explained for the former was 11% and the latter 56%. The Cronbachs
reliability for the activity-based distress and the emotional-based distress scales were .85 and
.90, respectively.
Facebook intensity
We utilized a modied version of Ellison et al.s (2007) scale to assess the intensity of Facebook
engagement by participants. Three items were dropped from the original scale because these items
reduced the Cronbachs alpha value drastically (e.g. number of Facebook friends and amount of
time spent on Facebook per day in the last week). Participants rated 5 items on a 5-point Likerttype scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The reliability measure
was Cronbachs = .76, which is an acceptable reliability.

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Table 2.

V. Lukacs and A. Quan-Haase

Factor loadings (principal components, varimax rotation) of Facebook distress (N = 106).
Factors

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Facebook distress
Activity-based distress
Looking at my exs prole or See Friendship page
Re-reading old messages the person sent me upsets me
I over-analyze old messages, wall posts or photographs of me and my ex
together
Emotion-based distress
I feel drawn to my exs Facebook prole
I cant help feeling angry about content my ex posts on Facebook
I feel distracted when I talk to my ex on Facebook chat
I feel paranoid that people posting on my exs wall are potential romantic
interests
I feel jealous when other people post on my exs wall
Looking at my exs Facebook page is self-destructive
I am envious of others who do not have an ex on Facebook
Eigenvalue
Variance explained (%)
Cronbachs alpha

Mean

SD

2.05
2.22
2.11

1.17
1.16
1.11

0.27
0.16
0.37

0.83
0.9
0.72

2.54
2.29
2.23
2.59

1.25
1.19
1.15
1.35

0.73
0.57
0.48
0.87

0.24
0.52
0.55
0.24

2.38
2.66
2.07

1.34
1.42
1.11

0.85 0.22
0.78 0.3
0.67 0.27
5.64 1.11
56.38 11.1
0.90 0.85

Note: The scale ranged from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.

Access to ex-partners Facebook account

Information about a persons access to the ex-partners Facebook prole was collected with a
dichotomous survey question: Are you and your ex-partner friends on Facebook? Respondents
had the option of answering yes or no.
Hope for romantic renewal
To measure hope for romantic renewal, respondents were asked to rate two items developed by
Lannutti and Cameron (2002) about their hope for romantic renewal with their ex-partner on a
5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. The item
wording was: I hope that my ex and I will have a romantic relationship together again and I
am still in love with my ex. The scale was reliable with Cronbachs = .87.
Liking of ex-partner
To measure liking of an ex-partner, respondents were asked to rate two items developed by Lannutti and Cameron (2002) on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to
5 = strongly agree. The item wording was: I generally speak about my ex-partner in positive
ways, and I think my ex-partner is a good person. The reliability for the scale was Cronbachs
= .89. In the original measure of liking an ex-partner by Lannutti and Cameron (2002), three
items were included, but a factor analysis revealed that one of these items (If I could never be
around my ex-partner, I would feel miserable) did not load on the factor (.26), so it was excluded
from the scale for the present paper.
Network overlap
It was important to establish the extent to which ex-partners shared a social network because this
could inuence their behavior on Facebook. We utilized two of the four items proposed by

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Table 3.

Correlation coefcients for variables of interest.

Liking scale
Hope scale
Network overlap scale
FB intensity scale
FB activity-based
distress
(6) FB emotional-based
distress
(7) IES of ex
(8) BDS

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(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

501

106
106
106
102
58

3.42
2.42
3.29
1.14
2.13

SD

(1)

(2)

(3)

1.09
1.28
0.23*
1.23
0.13
0.15
0.23
0.01 0.03 0.16
1.01 0.25
0.30*
0.05

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

0.12

58 2.40 0.98 0.35*

0.46*

0.1

61 2.78 0.95
0.06
107 2.37 0.87 0.20*

0.45*
0.55*

0.04
0.37* 0.33* 0.57*
0.21* 0.20* 0.75* 0.71* 0.34*

0.04

0.67*

Note: All variables utilized 5-point Likert-type scales where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree.
*p < .05.

Lannutti and Cameron (2002). The item wording was as follows: My ex-partner and I have many
friends in common and My ex-partner and I do not have many friends in common. The latter
item was reverse coded for the purpose of scale development and the Cronbachs for the
network overlap scale was .97. Table 3 presents correlations between key variables.

Results
Three aspects of Facebook use were found to contribute to breakup distress. The most commonly
distressing factor was the ex-partners prole. All interview participants who were friends with
ex-partners reported monitoring their behavior on Facebook following the breakup. Chelsea
reported the distress experienced as a result of the visibility and salience of her breakup online.
She explained:
A breakup without Facebook, you cant really see what your ex is doing, but with Facebook you just
have to click and you know exactly what theyve been up to. Thats a little frustrating.

Even those who did not actively attempt to view an ex-partners Facebook prole found themselves inadvertently doing so when content the ex-partner posted appeared in their news feeds.
Relationship status was a second major source of distress for participants. Many participants discussed how decisions to change their relationship status from in a relationship to single or to
remove it altogether presented problems for them. Finally, shared content was also a source of
distress. All of the interviewees had shared digital histories with their ex-partners on Facebook,
and these digital archives caused some participants to remember positive memories from their
former relationships and feel confused about the breakup. Rebecca, a bartender, addressed how
distress may accompany a relationship status change. She noted:
In some weird way, it kind of feels like youre breaking up all over again when the status comes down.
It angered me at the time that something as trivial as a Facebook status could make me feel so shitty.

Interview participants reported that the most common practices on Facebook following the
breakup were related to surveillance, or creeping, of the ex-partner. In fact, 88% of survey participants who remained Facebook friends with their ex-partner following the breakup indicated
that they had creeped their ex-partner following the breakup. These surveillance practices

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502

V. Lukacs and A. Quan-Haase

were not limited to the ex-partners prole alone. Seventy-four percent of survey participants
reported looking at or trying to look at an ex-partners new, or suspected new, partners prole.
The signicance of archives on Facebook that contain pictures, content, and posts related to
the ex-partner becomes clear when examining the data on surveillance behaviors on Facebook
following a breakup. Sixty-four percent of survey participants reported re-reading or over-analyzing old messages or wall posts, 62% reported being asked about the breakup on Facebook upon
removal of the relationship status, and 51% reported deleting pictures with the ex-partner on Facebook. Finally, more than half of the participants (62%) reported that they were asked about the
breakup following the removal of their relationship status, which supported ndings around
status changes as a source of distress.
H1 stated that individuals who did not have access to their ex-partners Facebook prole
would experience lower levels of breakup distress than those who did have access to their ex-partners prole. An independent samples t-test showed that those who were not Facebook friends
with their ex-partner (M = 2.54, SD = 0.87), in comparison to those who were Facebook
friends (M = 2.19, SD = 0.83), had signicantly higher levels of general breakup distress
(t(105) = 2.07, p < .05). This nding is contrary to H1. Qualitative data further reinforced this
trend: Six of the interviewees deleted and/or blocked their ex-partners on Facebook to cope
with distress caused by content on Facebook. Ultimately, all six who deleted and/or blocked
their ex-partners felt that this was an effective strategy. Martin, a lawyer, described how his distress level was related to ex-partner visibility on Facebook:
I would say pull off the Band-Aid as quickly as possible and block the person if youre nding it as
painful as I did to see their continuing existence in your sphere. Youll feel immediately better, or at
least I did.

H2 stated that amongst those who did have access to their ex-partners prole, individuals who
engaged in high levels of Facebook surveillance would experience more (a) breakup distress,
(b) Facebook activity-based distress, and (c) Facebook emotional-based distress. The sample
for H2 was reduced from N = 107 to N = 59 because those who did not have access to their
ex-partners Facebook prole could not engage in surveillance practices. An independent
samples t-test showed that there was a signicant difference in the scores for those who
engaged in high levels of Facebook IES of the ex-partner (M = 2.00, SD = .80) and those
with low scores (M = 2.54, SD = .81) on the general BDS (t(59) = 2.53, p < .05). There was
also a signicant difference in the scores for those who engaged in high levels of Facebook
IES of the ex-partner (M = 1.83, SD = .92) and those with low levels (M = 1.02, SD = 1.02)
of Facebook activity-based distress (t(55) = 2.52, p < .05). Finally, there was a signicant
difference in the scores for those who engaged in high levels of Facebook IES of the
ex-partner (M = 1.98, SD = .89) and those with low levels (M = 2.85, SD = .85) of Facebook
emotional-based distress (t(55) = 3.72, p < .000). Therefore, the more participants engaged
in surveillance of their ex-partner, the more breakup distress they experienced both in
general and linked to Facebook. Complementing these ndings, we found in the OLS
models that IES of an ex was positively associated with both breakup distress (b = .36, p < .01),
Facebook activity-based breakup distress (b = .40, p < .01), and Facebook emotional-based
breakup distress (b = .43, p < .01), which provides further support for H2 (Table 4). The
results of the OLS showed that IES was a signicant predictor of breakup distress, even
when controlling for other factors. Therefore, the more participants engaged in surveillance
of their ex, the more breakup distress they experienced. This was also a recurring theme in
the interviews. Cassie, a fourth-year social justice student, reported her surveillance behaviors
following the breakup:

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Table 4.

Regression models for predicting breakup distress and IES of ex.

Predictors of breakup distress

Adjusted R 2 = .48

Std. error of the estimate = 0.6

F(48) = 13.18, p < .001

Variable

SE

Hope for romantic renewal

Liking of ex-partner
IES of ex
Facebook intensity

0.08
0.09
0.11
0.49

3.66
3.05
2.97
2.59

.001
<.01
<.01
<.05

0.42
0.31
0.36
0.28

Predictors of Facebook activity-based distress

Std. error of the estimate = 0.9
Adjusted R 2 = .2

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503

F(49) = 5.41, p < .01

Variable

SE

IES of ex
Liking of ex-partner
Facebook intensity

0.14
0.14
0.68

3.04
2.44
2.18

<.01
<.05
<.05

0.4
0.34
0.287

Predictors of Facebook emotional-based distress

Std. error of the estimate = 0.71
Adjusted R 2 = .46

F(49) = 15.56, p < .001

Variable

SE

Facebook ex surveillance
Liking of ex-partner
Hope for romantic renewal

0.12
0.11
0.09

3.74
3.31
2.28

<.001
<.01
<.05

0.43
0.34
0.26

Predictors of IES of ex
Adjusted R 2 = .29

Std. error of the estimate = 0.71

Variable

SE

Hope for romantic renewal

Facebook intensity

0.09
0.58

F(52) = 15.56, p < .001

t
3.89
2.86

<.001
<.01

0.45
0.33

I still have some access to his page, so I denitely creep him all the time and I would get my girlfriends to creep him too by logging into their accounts. The thing is, youre creeping him because
you want to nd something. You want to nd something to be angry about. You want to see if any
new girls have written on his wall or if theres pictures tagged of him partying or doing whatever.
Youre kind of looking for something to be mad about so its denitely self-destructive. Its not
healthy.

The purpose of H3 was to test whether or not there would be a positive association between
people who hope to get back together with their ex-partner, breakup distress, and IES of an
ex-partner. The data demonstrated that people who hope to get back together with their expartner were more likely to engage in IES behaviors toward that ex. Hope for romantic
renewal was also positively associated with Facebook emotional-based distress and general
breakup distress, but not with Facebook activity-based breakup distress. Hoping to get back
together led to increased monitoring of the ex-partners prole and also to more distress, both
in general and linked to Facebook. The ndings support H3.
H4 examined if overlapping networks on Facebook would increase levels of IES of the ex and
breakup distress. The ndings show that overlapping networks were not signicantly associated
with any of the dependent variables. Therefore, H4 is not supported, and this was also mirrored in
the qualitative data. Patrick reported minimal Facebook creeping behaviors following the

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V. Lukacs and A. Quan-Haase

breakup, and discussed his coping approach for dealing with mutual friends on Facebook. He
noted:

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They have the option now on Facebook where you can be friends with someone but not be subscribed
to the person or not have details about them appearing in your news feed, so I guess, just unsubscribe
to them and any part of their social circle that you could cut out, to avoid hearing about them.

The results in Table 2 show that liking an ex-partner does not increase surveillance of the prole.
Liking was negatively associated with all distress scales (see Table 3): general BDS (b = .31,
p < .01), the Facebook activity-based distress scale (b = .34, p < .05), as well as the Facebook
emotional-based distress scale (b = .34, p < .05). Also, evaluating an ex-partner as a good
person and talking about her in a positive way lowered both general distress and Facebookrelated distress. Thus, H5 was supported only for breakup distress and not for IES of ex.

Discussion
The rst contribution to the literature was the development of a new scale that measures Facebook
distress after a breakup. This is an important contribution in two ways. First, previously validated
scales, such as Field et al.s (2009), focus on breakup distress without taking into consideration
how Facebook may potentially increase or change a persons level of distress. Taking into account
the widespread use of Facebook as a communication tool among all groups in society, it is
increasingly important to also understand how Facebook may affect an individuals reaction to
a breakup. The proposed scale consists of two types of distress. One type is related to distress
from engaging in Facebook activities, such as looking at the ex-partners prole or over-analyzing
old messages from them. The second type encompasses emotional distress, such as jealousy,
anger, and paranoia due to Facebook content from the ex-partner.
The second contribution to our understanding of breakups comes from examining the link
between IES and distress. We developed a new scale to measure IES of an ex-partner by adapting
Tokunagas (2011) IES scale. Facebook has unique features when compared to other SNSs, such
as the timeline, making a vast amount of content available for monitoring (Clayton et al., 2013;
Lyndon et al., 2011). This scale allows scholars to gain a better understanding as to how breakups
are complicated by online interactions and surveillance behaviors that are specic to the Facebook
platform. Our analysis revealed that IES of an ex-partner was positively associated with general
breakup distress, activity-based Facebook distress, and emotional-based Facebook distress. This
was further supported by the interviews, which showed that an ex-partners prole, relationship
status updates, and shared content were all sources of distress reminding them of the relationship,
providing updates on the exs activities, and leading toward jealousy of potential new romantic
partners. This nding was in accord with previously reported research showing that proles
can be a source of jealousy (Muise et al., 2009).
We found that individuals who were not Facebook friends with their ex-partners were more
distressed than individuals who remained friends with their ex-partners. The opposite was
expected to be true based on the fact that in order to participate in IES (an assumed distressing
behavior), one would also have to be friends with their ex-partner. The qualitative ndings
suggest, however, that individuals who participated in IES of an ex-partner and experienced
the greatest amount of distress were also the most likely to delete their ex-partners as a coping
mechanism to stop their distressing IES behaviors. This sheds light on an unexpected nding
and has implications for how to cope with breakups. While past research had suggested that deleting an ex-partner may be the best strategy to moving forward (Gershon, 2010; Holmes, 2010), our
study suggests that deleting an ex-partner is not the best approach for all individuals going

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Information, Communication & Society

505

through a breakup. Marshall found similar results in her study: Former partners with whom we
are no longer in contact, by contrast, may remain shrouded in an alluring mystique, suggesting
that remaining Facebook friends with an ex-partner may actually help rather than harm ones postbreakup recovery (p. 525). For those whose breakup was less problematic, staying friends on
Facebook may be a good option, whereas for those individuals whose breakup was difcult
and emotional, it may be the best approach to delete the ex-partner to reduce further distress. Furthermore, this research also demonstrates the emergence of a shift toward new environments, such
as online communities, for courtship and dating within the younger population, which is a trend
mirrored in Huynh, Lim, and Skorics (2013) study on MMO (massively multiplayer online
game)-mediated romantic relationships. Therefore, the implications for counseling professionals
center on the bridging of a generation gap (Huynh et al., 2013, p. 261), such that the breakups of
digital natives in the online realm should be understood and treated as seriously as corresponding
dissolution in ofine relationships, but with consideration of various unique barriers to emotional
recovery.
The third contribution of our study was to examine the link between dimensions of the
relationship and distress. Hope for romantic renewal and liking of an ex-partner were the
most central predictors of distress and hope was also a strong predictor for IES of the expartner. Hoping to renew the relationship and still continuing to like the ex-partner make it difcult for an individual to move on and this leads toward increased surveillance practices of the
ex-partners prole and activities. This seems to be linked to the notion of positive feedback in
systems theory, where positive feedback is in alignment with the input, and adding to it. As a
result, the more an individual wishes to renew the relationship, the more they engage in surveillance of their ex-partner, and this then further increases the hope for renewal and the
liking of the ex. This suggests that an important intervention to cope with a breakup may be
to decrease the hope for a romantic renewal, as this can then help reduce surveillance of an
ex-partner.
In terms of which coping strategies were the most effective, it depended on the individual and
what aspects of Facebook were causing them the most distress. For instance, blocking the ex-partners posts from the news feed may work for someone who was not actively participating in surveillance of their ex-partner, but it would be unhelpful to someone who was actively creeping
their ex-partner several times a day. In such an instance, deleting the ex-partner may be a more
effective strategy. Similarly, some people may have albums of photographs with an ex-partner
while others may have none and thus not have to make decisions about what to do with shared
photographs on Facebook following the breakup. Although there is no one solution that may
work for everyone, some strategies were employed more frequently than others. Future research
can examine the coping strategies used by individuals who are coping with a breakup and highlight those strategies that are most effective. This study did not take into account personality
factors such as self-esteem and anxiety. Previous literature has demonstrated that Facebook addiction has been related to low self-esteem, depression, and a lack of social skills (Herrera, Pacheco,
Palomar & Zavala, 2010). It is possible that self-esteem measures might be strongly associated
with these different types of distress and could potentially play a role in mediating IES behaviors.
Therefore, future research could consider these self-esteem and anxiety variables in the manifestation of IES behaviors or different types of breakup distress.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the editors of the special issue Laura Robinson and Apryl A. Williams and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and helpful comments. We also thank Andrew Nevin for his help with the
nal draft.

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V. Lukacs and A. Quan-Haase

Disclosure statement
No potential conict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This project was funded by a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number
R3603A13].

Note
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1.

In the original Tokunaga article, a 7-point Likert-type scale was utilized.

Notes on contributors
Veronika Lukacs has a Masters degree in Media Studies from Western University and is currently
completing her degree in social work at the University of Toronto. [email: veronika.lukacs@mail.
utoronto.ca]
Anabel Quan-Haase is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Faculty of Information
and Media Studies at Western University, where her work and teaching focus on digital technologies and
their intersection with society. She was president of the Canadian Association of Information Studies and
is currently a council member of the American Sociological Associations section on Information and Communication Technology (CITASA). Her book, Technology and Society, was rst published in 2013 with
Oxford University Press. [email: aquan@uwo.ca]

ORCID
Anabel Quan-Haase

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2560-6709

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