Page 111 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

Facebook users, and that their partner was among their Facebook contacts. We defined LDRR based on participants’ self-identification (i.e., “Are you in a long- distance romantic relationship?”). This captures an individual’s relational reality better compared to researcher-imposed measures (Stafford, 2005). A total of 142 participants completed the survey. The mean age of the participants was 25 years (SD = 5.05), with age ranging from 17 to 49 years old. On average, participants were in a relationship with their partner for 3 years (ranging from 1 month to 13 years; M = 36.20 months; SD = 34.10).
For the GCRR comparison group, we used the same selection criteria except they had to be in a geographically-close romantic relationship to participate and should not have previously participated in the same study. We recruited the participants for the GCRR group using the same process described above. There were 314 participants who completed the survey. The mean age of participants in GCRR was 29 years (SD = 6.74), with age ranging from 19 to 70 years old. The length of GCRR relationships was, on average, 5 years (ranging from 1 month to 29 years; M = 65.15 months; SD = 66.43). The time interval between data collections was approximately one year and both rounds took approximately two weeks. In both LDRR and GCRR, the participants did not receive any form of compensation for participating in the study.
Measures
This study was part of a larger survey. Only the measures relevant to this current paper are reported here.
SNS use. We used the Facebook Use Intensity Scale (FBUI) developed by Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007) (Appendix A). This scale assesses duration of Facebook use, network size, and integration of Facebook into one’s daily life. The items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree (Cronbach’s α = .82).
SNS relationship social support. For this study, we developed a Facebook Relationship Support Scale (FBRSup) to measure relationship social support received by romantic partners on Facebook . We adapted existing categories of social support (i.e., informational, instrumental, esteem/emotional, embedded) and created two items for each category. The items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. We asked 10 undergraduate students who were in a romantic relationship to accomplish the survey. Based on their comments, we modified one item of esteem/emotional
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