Quality of interpersonal relationships and use of Facebook in emerging adults

The social network Facebook (FB) has a primary place in the social life of emerging adults. Studies that examine the link between offline interpersonal relations (IR) and the use of Facebook have been limited to evaluating that link as a function of the overall offline social network and not as a function of the different social players who make up that network. The objectives of this study are to evaluate: (a) to what extent the use of FB varies according to romantic status; (b) the link between the quality of offline IR (mother, father, best friend, lover) of emerging adults and their use of FB; (c) the moderating role of gender. A sample of 321 young adults (60.7% women, average age = 25.38 years) completed a questionnaire measuring FB use and two factors (intimacy and conflict) related to their offline IR. The results indicate that single people have a network of FB "friends" consisting of more superficial relations than those who are part of a couple. In addition, FB seems to play a compensatory role in IR with a romantic partner or mother, while it appears to have a continuity role in IR with a best friend. Thus, the quality of IR with different members of the social network seems to be significantly and directly linked to the use of FB.