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Phubbing may link loneliness to lower well-being
Lower self-esteem and greater romantic loneliness may help explain how perceived phone disengagement relates to psychological well-being in young adults.
To examine whether self-esteem and romantic loneliness help explain the association between perceived partner phubbing and psychological well-being in young adults in romantic relationships.
Approach:
Design and participants: Cross-sectional study of 1,627 heterosexual, unmarried adults aged 18–35 in romantic relationships, recruited through convenience sampling.
Measures and analysis: Participants completed self-report measures of perceived partner phubbing, self-esteem, romantic loneliness, and psychological well-being. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping tested independent and sequential mediation.
Key Findings:
Greater perceived partner phubbing was associated with lower self-esteem, greater romantic loneliness, and lower psychological well-being.
Self-esteem was positively associated with well-being and inversely associated with romantic loneliness; greater romantic loneliness was associated with lower well-being.
With a direct pathway included, the association between phubbing and well-being was not statistically significant. The investigators selected a fully mediated model involving self-esteem and romantic loneliness.
Interpretation:
The authors described the serial mediation model as a theoretically grounded, process-oriented explanation, not a causal pathway. The cross-sectional findings do not establish that phubbing causes changes in self-esteem, loneliness, or well-being.
Limitations:
Cross-sectional design prevents conclusions about causality or temporal ordering.
Self-reported measures may be affected by social desirability bias.
Individual rather than dyadic data did not allow analysis of reciprocal partner processes.
Convenience sampling and the young, heterosexual, unmarried sample limit generalizability.
The romantic loneliness subscale had relatively modest internal consistency.
Conclusion:
The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
