Psychological Correlates of Ghosting and Breadcrumbing Experiences: A Preliminary Study among Adults

Navarro, Raúl; Rubio, Elisa Larrañaga; Jiménez, Santiago Yubero; Víllora, Beatriz

doi:10.3390/ijerph17031116

Cited by 47 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…A growing amount of research has focused on the relationship dissolution strategy of ghosting. Prior research has sought to define ghosting (Koessler et al, 2019b; LeFebvre et al, 2019), explore rates and perceptions of ghosting (Freedman et al, 2019; LeFebvre, 2017), understand motivations for using ghosting (Koessler et al, 2019a, 2019b; LeFebvre et al, 2019, 2020), describe reactions to ghosting experiences (LeFebvre & Fan, 2020; Manning et al, 2019, Timmermans et al, 2020), and has begun to explore individual differences in ghostees and ghosters (Freedman et al, 2019; Navarro et al, 2020). This set of studies had two purposes: (1) to broaden the research on individual differences in ghosting by examining the association between ghosting experiences and attachment, and (2) to replicate prior research on individual differences that had demonstrated an association between ghosting experiences and implicit theories of relationships.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-study examination of attachment and implicit theories of relationships in ghosting experiences

Powell

Freedman

Williams

et al. 2021

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

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Ghosting is a dissolution strategy where the initiator ends all communication with the other person, ignoring attempts to reestablish the interaction. We examined the associations between attachment (i.e., anxiety/avoidance) and ghosting, and replicated previous work on implicit theories of relationships (i.e., growth/destiny) and ghosting. Study 1 ( N = 165) was an exploratory analysis of attachment and ghosting experiences, with those previously ghosted by a romantic partner reporting higher anxiety than those not previously ghosted by a romantic partner. Those who had ghosted a partner reported more avoidance than those who had not previously ghosted a partner. Study 2 ( N = 247) was a pre-registered replication of Study 1 and replication of ghosting and implicit theories. Study 3 was pre-registered and replicated the findings from Studies 1 and 2 with a substantially larger sample ( N = 863). Specifically, individuals who had been ghosted or had both ghosted and been ghosted reported significantly higher anxiety than those who had ghosted or had no prior ghosting experience. Individuals who had ghosted or had both ghosted and been ghosted reported significantly higher avoidance than those with no prior ghosting experience. Similarly, individuals who had ghosted or had both ghosted and been ghosted reported significantly higher destiny beliefs than those who had been ghosted or had no prior experience with ghosting. Finally, a meta-analysis across the three studies examined the strength of the associations between ghosting experiences and attachment. Taken together, these studies consistently demonstrate an association between attachment anxiety and being ghosted, as well as destiny beliefs and ghosting a romantic partner.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-study examination of attachment and implicit theories of relationships in ghosting experiences

Powell

Freedman

Williams

et al. 2021

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition, it should be considered that the online lives of adolescents exhibit age-specific characteristics (often using different platforms) compared with those of adults (Biolcati, 2010). With regard to ghosting, a previous study (Navarro et al, 2020) found no significant differences according to gender or current sentimental status (single or having a partner) among the participants. Accordingly, men and women did not differ in ending a relationship by disappearing.…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 71%

Cyber dating abuse and ghosting behaviours: personality and gender roles in romantic relationships

Biolcati¹,

Pupi²,

Mancini³

2021

Current Issues in Personality Psychology

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Cyber dating abuse (CDA) refers to physical, verbal, and psychological violence perpetrated towards a romantic partner via technology and social media. Another emerging form of online abuse is ghosting, a silent strategy to dissolve undesired relationships without openly having to break them up. The aims of the current study were (i) to explore the relationship between CDA and ghosting behaviours in romantic relationships and (ii) to investigate the roles of gender and personality traits (conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability, openness) in prediction of CDA (perpetration and victimization). participants and procedureA sample of 409 participants (64.8% females), aged between 18 and 53 years (M age = 26.40, SD = 6.06), took part in the study. resultsCDA and ghosting behaviours are interrelated, and women were more prone than men were to use ghosting strate-gies, such as stopping messages abruptly and punishing the partner through silence. Moreover, gender and personality traits differently predicted direct aggression and control/monitoring perpetration and direct aggression victimization, but they were not significant predictors of control/ monitoring victimization. conclusionsThe findings are discussed in light of gender differences to improve our understanding of the psychological factors involved in cyber dating violence.

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“…While we cannot experimentally study the situations described in the vignettes, it is possible that participants would act differently in these situations. For example, despite the fact that many of the participants in this study flatly denied being willing to ghost short-term romantic partners, we know that many young adults do in fact engage in ghosting (Freedman et al, 2019;LeFebvre et al, 2019;Navarro et al, 2020). As such, further investigation of what leads to such passive rejection-and how it may be affected by current mood states-is warranted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Who is more willing to engage in social rejection? The roles of self-esteem, rejection sensitivity, and negative affect in social rejection decisions

Freedman¹,

Dainer-Best²

2020

Preprint

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Although the emotional consequences of social rejection are well-documented, less is known about the emotional antecedents of social rejection decisions. In a set of two preregistered studies, the present research examines the association of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, general distress, and self-esteem with attitudes toward engaging in different types of rejection in the contexts of friendship and romantic relationships. Across both studies, participants experiencing higher levels of general distress and lower levels of self-esteem indicated that engaging in social rejection would be more difficult and would lead to higher levels of negative emotion. However, participants did not differ in their reported willingness to engage in social rejection based on depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or self-esteem, nor did these markers of negative affect relate to the number of romantic relationships they had ended. Additionally, symptoms did not differentiate between likelihood of explicit rejection or passive rejection (ghosting); participants reported being unwilling to ghost in romantic relationships in both studies. Taken together, the two studies suggest that psychological distress may not result in decreased willingness to reject a friend or partner, but may make the idea of doing so seem more difficult.

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Psychological Correlates of Ghosting and Breadcrumbing Experiences: A Preliminary Study among Adults

Cited by 47 publications

References 42 publications

A multi-study examination of attachment and implicit theories of relationships in ghosting experiences

A multi-study examination of attachment and implicit theories of relationships in ghosting experiences

Cyber dating abuse and ghosting behaviours: personality and gender roles in romantic relationships

Who is more willing to engage in social rejection? The roles of self-esteem, rejection sensitivity, and negative affect in social rejection decisions

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