Social Media Status Updates Influence on Romantic Relationships Anxiety： WeChat and College Students in China

Yizhe+Wang

Abstract：Young peoples exposure to social media in China such as WeChat is now increasing with the potential for such use complicating romantic relationships. Yet， little is known about the overlaps between the virtual and reality worlds. The author extended previous research of Dr. Zhou and further investigated young college students' involvement with WeChat in the context of romantic relationships and how the potential factors for WeChat status updates increase romantic relationship anxiety， which are interpersonal attraction doubt， public opinion effect， relationship dissatisfaction and excessive social media usage. A WeChat Status Updates' Influence Questionnaire is developed based on Dr. Zhou's work. An 10-item WeChat Status Updates' Influence Questionnaire and three in-depth interviews support the result that college students are negatively affected by WeChat status updates. Specifically， single students are far more influenced than traditional idea and female is more likely to be influenced than male. Moreover， interpersonal attraction doubt tops the list of four factors. Related discussion is also included in the final part.

Key words：WeChat， college students， anxiety， romantic relationships

Introduction

The introduction of social media such as "Facebook" and "WeChat" may complicate romantic relationship globally. Online communication is an integral part of many people's everyday lives and usually important social relationships are primarily maintained online. Since online communication plays such a major role in our social lives， frequent status updates coming out of various social media have prompted problems relating to our state of minds consciously and unconsciously. Among all these status updates， the topic that is particularly special for college students， which is romantic relationship drew the author's attention. This bitter and sweet issue is apparently on many college students' minds. Therefore， the author intends to explore the relationship between the social media status updates and romantic relationship anxiety.

With constantly increasing social media use， a range of positive and negative impacts of it has been noticed. Just as the way we have experienced， social media help to improve individuals' sense of connection with real or online communities and can also become an effective communication tool for information exchange. According to John Chapin's article in 2016， certain concerns have been raised about possible links between heavy social media use and depression. Some popularly used social media in western countries such as Facebook has been studied so as to find out its possible connection with romantic relationship anxiety disorder in some earlier research. However， status update as a major component of social media and a vital vehicle for interpersonal communication and inter-reaction， has not been sufficiently studied in previous research. When people using social media to read a status update， they can provide a direct social feedback expressing a “l(fā)ike” by clicking the thumb-up-button or by writing a verbal comment in response. Therefore， the number of likes a status update receive as well as the number of friends who comment in response serve as the expression of social feedbacks. In addition， the "likes" and "comments" are not only visible to the social media users themselves but also to their mutual friends， thereby promoting the involvement and publicity in comparison to one-to-one chatting. The author assumes that this high involvement and publicity pattern would make a negative impact on people in terms of romantic relationships by various means.endprint

According to the typical research done by Rachel Elphinston， and Patricia Noller in this domain， Facebook intrusion influences on romantic relationship dissatisfaction fully by cognitive jealousy and surveillance behaviors. Their research studied how Facebook influences romantic relationship between college lovers. While， in present research， WeChat will be taken as a subject since it is the best-known social medium in China that resembles Facebook in western countries. In addition， instead of focusing on college lovers， the author also attempts to figure out how WeChat status updates influence single college students， that is， the ones that are currently not in romantic relationship may feel anxious or annoyed for the feeling of exclusion resulted by others' status updates.

The emergence of technological addictions in recent years such as the Internet， mobile phones， video gaming， and social apps calls for research into this domain. According to Wilson et al.， "Technological addictions behaviors may have reinforcing aspects that can have negative psychological， interpersonal， and work implications. The reinforcing aspects of SNSs can promote addictive tendencies because of the interactive nature of this form of communication." So， the author assumes that excessive social media usage may lead to strong relationship anxiety. In professor Zhou Yonghong's article Analysis of a Preliminary Questionnaire --- single college students' anxiety on romantic relationship， she initiated three factors that result in college students' relationships anxiety which are interpersonal attraction doubt， public opinion effect and relationship dissatisfaction. These three factors are believed to be accessed to social media use. Considering Wilson's idea the author would add excessive social media usage to the factors and try to find out how these factors work in the process and discuss how these factors come into being.

In present study

The author aimed to extend existing research by exploring young college students' involvement with WeChat in the context of romantic relationships and the potential for WeChat status updates to increase romantic relationship anxiety. In developing a measure of WeChat status updates' influence， the author extrapolated from Zhou Yonghong's work which had developed a framework of college students' romantic relationships anxiety examination， so that we could measure WeChat status updates' influence in a similar way. We included four control variables which are gender， age， length of time as a WeChat member， and relationship length. We expected that WeChat status updates' negative influence on romantic relationships would be associated with interpersonal attraction doubt， public opinion effect， relationship dissatisfaction and excessive social media usage. Further discussion was also done by explaining these factors.endprint

Methods

Participants

A total of 20 undergraduate students from a Chinese selective university named Dalian University of Technology were recruited for survey. Half of participants are currently in romantic relationships and the other half are single. All participants are WeChat members who has registered for more than 2 years. All of them （7 men and 13women） completed an online questionnaire and were aged between 19 and 21 years. The average length of the participants current relationship was 13.2 months ranging from 2 months to 5 years. The majority of participants were dating （95percent） and 5 percent were living together. The average length of the participants duration of being single was 23.3 months ranging from 8 months to 8 years.

Measures

First of all， three private in-depth interviews was involved in order to verify the author's assumptions； that is， on one hand， the author tries to make sure that romantic relationship anxiety do exist during students' social media use. On the other hand， the ideas and feelings the interviewee talked about may offer some other important information for the present study. Participants were asked to report their time spent on WeChat during a week. In addition， they also completed questionnaires which were designed to measure anxiety influenced by interpersonal attraction， public opinion， relationship satisfaction and excessive social media usage.

WeChat Status Updates' Influence Questionnaire.

WeChat status updates' influence questionnaire was developed based on the romantic relationships anxiety questionnaire designed by Zhou Yonghong et al. Responses were reported on a seven-point scale， ranging from 1 （strongly disagree） to 7 （strongly agree） and summed to indicate higher levels of influence. A sample item is like ‘‘I often think about updating WeChat status when I am not using it.

Interview

1.Female subject（single）

I have been single for more than 2 years， but I still remember how it hurt in the first month when I saw my ex's status updates as well as other couples showing their happily being together. I felt awful on Wechat but at the same time addicted to it for there seemed nothing else I could do.

I can say those Wechat status updates did contribute to my relationship anxiety with the stress to handle complicated interpersonal relationships for everyone wanted to know what was going on between us which I just wanted to forget . After long period of time， I felt alright， in spite of small sense of loneliness when couples were celebrating Valentine's Day. We call ourselves "single dog" ironically. I also find myself paying more attention to my profile in Wechat， but honestly， it is exhausting.endprint

Now I am totally enjoying my life just as it says， "single is simple， double is trouble".

2.Female subject（non-single）

This is the fourth year being together with my boyfriend. We are senior high couples and have been living in two different cities separately for three years.

Speaking of anxiety， I would freak out if I saw him update WeChat status without replying to my messages. I would also be jealous when he posts photos with girls I don't know， especially when we had a fight or cold war. There are also circumstances that I pretend to be doing well in WeChat status to make my boyfriend feel reassured for he is busy doing something important， but in fact I'm not. And the number of "likes" and nice comments are also important to my feelings.

3.Male subject（non-single）

I'm not a "WeChater" at all and prefer not to spend much time on updating stuffs. However girls always think differently. My girlfriend thinks it means I don't love her if I don't post my love for her on WeChat. I have to "like" her every status updates. We seriously quarreled a lot about this.

Questionnaire Items

1. I often think about updating Wechat status when I am not using it. （social media usage）

2. The thought of not being able to access Wechat makes me feel distressed. （social media usage）

3. I often feel that other people's romantic relationships are better than mine according to their status updates. （ relationship satisfaction）

4. My partner's Wechat status updates' don't often mention me， which makes me upset. （ relationship satisfaction）

5. My friends' Wechat status updates showing dating pictures with their partners makes me feel isolated and anxious. （for single students）

6. I feel a sense of self-pity when noticing other couple's sharing in Wechat status updates and thereby lower my confidence to opposite sex. （for single students）

7. I can easily be anxious when my status updates get less "likes" than I expected or get mean comments. （public opinion）

8. Arguments have arisen with status updates relating to romantic relationships. （public opinion）

9. I care how my romantic relationship look like in my Wechat status updates very much. （interpersonal attraction）

10. I worry about my personal attraction to opposite sex so much that I always try to establish a perfect vision of myself. （interpersonal attraction）

The questionnaire and interview indicate that college students in DUT are bothered by romantic relationship anxiety resulted by WeChat status updates in different ways and extents. Generally speaking， students in romantic relationships show stronger anxiety in comparison to single ones. Female partners in relationships seems more likely to be influenced by WeChat status updates in context of love affairs. Regardless of current relationship condition， excessive social media usage is probably the most irrelevant factor among all four hypothetical factors for one of the average score below 3.5. However， according to interviews， people consider that time spent on WeChat may increase the chance that a relationship partner is subjected to threat by a third party， and an excessive attachment is considered harmful； that is， it is more likely to interrupt a persons daily routine and negatively influence people's relationship outcomes such as creating jealousy and dissatisfaction. Moreover， single students appear to be spending more time on using WeChat.endprint

Interpersonal attraction tops the list of all four factors. Without being in line with author's assumption， the study detects that single students intend to care a lot more about interpersonal attraction issue than college couples. The impact of interpersonal attraction is so overwhelming that it can even directly decide how anxious a student can be. They especially pay more attention to how many people have "liked" their status updates and the content of each comment.

Relationship satisfaction and public opinion are both strong factors of relationship anxiety with average scores above 3.5. Interpersonal attraction is more salient than public opinion according to statistics calculated in present study. Specifically， couples within 2 years relationships in length are more affected by relationship dissatisfaction in comparison to those couples have been together for a long time. In addition， single students tend to be more anxious about their lack of interpersonal attraction and worry about failing to be attractive.

Discussion

The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which an individuals involvement with WeChat status updates result in their relationship anxiety and try to figure out the deeper factors and how these factors work in different conditions. Thus， this study required the development of a measure of WeChat Status Updates' Influence. Although the author tried to create a practical questionnaire based on previous study by Dr.Zhou， there still remained obvious limitations on not involving "Behavioral Addiction Components"， which required more professional knowledge and statistical skill.

Preliminary evidence somehow supported the general assumption of the negative influences on relationship anxiety made by WeChat status updates. Because of the interpersonal nature of WeChat， individuals highly involved with this form of social networking are also likely to be a symbol that interpersonal reaction plays a significant part in the whole process. It may explain the reason why interpersonal concerns appear to be so dominant for relationships anxiety. Single students， for their solitude condition， tend to be more thirst for identity， values and a sense of belonging， and thereby end up trying to gain these from other people including their friends， classmates， relatives and so on. After breaking up with their ex-partners and being single for a certain period of time， self-doubt and a lack of confidence began to be seeded in their hearts and started to worry about their capacity to attract opposite sex. Most of the time they preferred to avoid things related to relationships and kept themselves busy doing other things and tried hard to regain a sense of control in other areas for compensating their frustration on relationships establishment. While， the students couples pay less attention on interpersonal attraction than single ones do.endprint

The results of this study also suggest that young peoples levels of time spent on WeChat can impact their romantic relationships negatively， though statistically， not that salient compared with other factors. In addition， public opinion is another unique factor that was found important in single students relationships anxiety.

And in line with predictions made in earlier study of Facebook， WeChat was also linked to relationship dissatisfaction via experiences of jealousy and surveillance behaviors. Our findings build on previous research that has pointed to Facebook as an environment that promotes jealousy-related feelings and behaviors and evidence showing that addictive behaviors are associated with negative relationship outcomes.

This study is the first to investigate the impact of WeChat status updates on relationship anxiety among both single and non-single students， using individual samples. However， the present study has some limitations. The participants are far from enough for drawing precise conclusions. Later study should try to enlarge the number of participants with balanced gender and pay more attention to behavioral addiction components in their questionnaire making. The author also suggests future study investigate the link in a sample of participants who report more extreme levels of WeChat usage. For the participants limit， the conclusion here may not be universal and required further proofs.

In summary， WeChat status updates' influence on relationship anxiety is a relatively new phenomenon that appears to be associated with interpersonal attraction doubt， public opinion effect， relationship dissatisfaction and excessive social media usage. How these factors work on different groups of students may be useful in clinical practice and psychological intervention. The potential implications of the present study are extensive given to the majority of young people in China who are WeChat members.

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