Revenge via social media and relationship contexts: Prevalence and measurement

Abstract

Social media platforms’ unique characteristics may make them particularly good outlets for getting even with relational partners. Establishing the prevalence of social media revenge and identifying the forms such revenge may take in different relationship contexts is an important first step in broadening our understanding of these behaviors. In a mixed-methods study, undergraduates ( N = 732) and community members ( N = 124) were randomly assigned to one of four relational contexts (coworkers, family, friends, and romantic partners) and asked to describe an act of social media revenge experienced or observed in their assigned context. They then rated how often they were the avenger, target, and observer of five control and monitoring and 11 direct aggression behaviors adapted from the Cyber Dating Abuse Questionnaire. The prevalence of social media revenge across all relationship contexts, roles, and revenge types was low and participants reported observing social media revenge more frequently than being the target or avenger. Social media revenge was also more prevalent in some relationships than others and the type of relationship between avenger and target may have implications for how revenge is executed. Analysis of participants’ accounts identified novel revenge behaviors and suggested ways to improve measurement of social media revenge.

Perpetration of Image-Based Sexual Abuse: Extent, Nature and Correlates in a Multi-Country Sample

“…Nonetheless, it may be that there is an emerging trend of retaliatory or reciprocal IBSA perpetration in response to experiencing IBSA victimization. Such a trend has been noted in other research into online abuse (see e.g., Chester & DeWall, 2018; Paulin & Boon, 2021). In a study by Chester and DeWall (2018), it was found that individuals prone to engaging in retaliatory online abuse behaviors generally were more likely to score highly on traits such as aggression and impulsivity.…”

Cyberstalking nos relacionamentos românticos: revisão sistemática da literatura

“…Torna-se essencial desenvolver intervenções que forneçam esclarecimentos sobre os limites entre uma busca comum e comportamentos de perseguição. Essa clareza é importante, dado que muitas vezes as pessoas testemunham casos de cyberstalking sem denunciá-los (Paulin & Boon, 2021). Além disso, reconhece-se que os comportamentos de perseguição podem se tornar mais invasivos, especialmente após os términos de relacionamentos, podendo evoluir para perseguição física quando as tentativas de contato online não obtêm sucesso.…”

“…Nesse sentido, a literatura indica que o cyberstalking é mais prevalente em relacionamentos românticos, embora os estudos estejam em estágios iniciais (March at al., 2020;Paulin & Boon, 2021). O cyberstalking nos relacionamentos românticos, também conhecido como Cyber Dating Abuse (March et al, 2020;Marcum et al, 2017;Marcum & Higgins, 2019), refere-se ao uso das tecnologias de comunicação e informação para perseguir um parceiro íntimo atual, anterior ou em potencial (Smoker & March, 2017).…”

“…contribuindo para aumentar a confiança nos resultados obtidos e na validação das conclusões aqui encontradas. Entretanto, três estudos(Ahlgrim & Terrance, 2021;Lee & O'Sullivan, 2014;Paulin & Boon, 2021) obtiveram pontuações moderadas, mas foram mantidos na revisão pela singularidade de suas perspectivas e relevância dos dados. Esta decisão contribui para a transparência do processo de revisão e possibilita a identificação de lacunas na pesquisa, permitindo direcionar futuras investigações de forma mais precisa.Na análise dos estudos revisados, revelou-se que variáveis tecnológicas e socioculturais podem influenciar tanto a perpetração quanto a vitimização do cyberstalking em relacionamentos amorosos, evidenciando a sua bidirecionalidade.…”

Introduction to the special issue on communication technologies and relationships

“…A second noteworthy aspect of the articles in this special issue is the variety of methodologies authors employed and the exciting cutting-edge approaches of some studies. In terms of variety there are: experiments (David & Roberts, 2021; Ruppel et al, 2021), qualitative studies (Quan-Haase et al, 2021), a large scale representative survey (Booth et al, 2021), other surveys or questionnaire studies (Russell et al, 2021; Scott et al, 2021), event sampling diary studies (Bayer et al, 2021; Macdonald et al, 2021), analyses of messages (Brinberg et al, 2021; Entwistle et al, 2021; Sharabi & Hopkins, 2021), mixed quantitative and qualitative methods (Fox et al, 2021; Paulin & Boon, 2021), and longitudinal studies (Alexopoulos, 2021; Holtzman et al, 2021; Lu et al, 2021). The diversity of methods may reflect that research on technology and relationships is an area where IARR’s value of multidisciplinarity is thriving.…”