Posting too many "selfies" on social media might
lead to serious problems with your romantic partner,
according to a new study.
Researchers conducted an online survey of 420 users
of the social media site Instagram. The users were
aged 18 to 62. The investigators found that those
who believed they were good-looking were more likely
to post selfies, which are photographic self-portraits.
But the more selfies someone posted, the more likely
the behaviour was tied to jealousy and arguments in
their romantic relationship, along with emotional or
physical infidelity, breakups and divorces, the
findings showed.
"Although we cannot directly assume cause-and-
effect due to the [study's design], the results here
show that body-image satisfaction can be detrimental
to Instagram users' romantic relationships, especially
when users' body-image satisfaction is promoted in
the form of Instagram selfie posts," study co-author
Russell Clayton, an assistant professor at Florida
State University in Tallahassee, said in a school news
release.
The study was published recently in the journal
Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking .
According study author Jessica Ridgway, "the results
from this study provide an avenue for future body-
image research". Ridgway is a visiting professor of
retail merchandising and product development at
Florida State.
"For instance," she said in the news release, "future
research could examine whether social media users
post images of their actual selves or their virtual
ideal selves, and whether such online behaviours are
associated with similar negative outcomes found in
our study."
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