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Partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction: Self-esteem and marital status as moderators

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Abstract

The current study investigated the moderating effects of self-esteem and marital status on the association between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction. Four hundred and twenty-nine Chinese adults completed the measures of partner phubbing, relationship satisfaction, self-esteem, and marital status. The findings revealed that partner phubbing was not significantly associated with relationship satisfaction. However, self-esteem moderated the association between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction. More specifically, for high self-esteem adults, partner phubbing was significantly associated with relationship satisfaction. In contrast, for adults with low levels of self-esteem, this association became nonsignificant. The association between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction was also moderated by marital status, which showed that the significant relation between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction only existed among married adults.

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Acknowledgements

The present study was supported by the Key Research Institute in Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education (Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University) (14JJD190005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Educational Science, Shanxi University, No. 92 Wucheng Road, Xiaodian District, Taiyuan, 030006, China

    Xingchao Wang

  2. School of Education, Zhengzhou University, No. 100 Science Street, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Fengqing Zhao

  3. The Center of Internet + Social Psychology, Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, No. 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100872, China

    Li Lei

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  1. Xingchao Wang
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Correspondence to Li Lei.

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Xingchao Wang and Fengqing Zhao are co-first authors who contribute equally to this work.

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Wang, X., Zhao, F. & Lei, L. Partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction: Self-esteem and marital status as moderators. Curr Psychol 40, 3365–3375 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00275-0

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