Pakistan Journal of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Vol. 12, No. 2, 2021

Impact of Phubbing on Relationship Closeness and Jealousy in Working Women

*Rabia Farooqi

University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

Rabail Shahid

University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

through a Generic Scale of Phubbing (GSP; Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, 2018),

Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (MJS; Pfeiffer & Wong, 1989), and Unidimensional

Relationship Closeness Scale (URCS; Dibble et al., 2012). The co-relational research design was

employed. The sample consisted of N = 200 participants, age range 25-35 (M = 21.09, SD =

1.94), determined through G* power, and gathered via a convenient sampling strategy. Findings

revealed phubbing and its subdomains have a significant relationship with relationship closeness

and jealousy, however, dimensions vary. Linear regression demonstrated that being phubber is a

significant positive predictor of relationship closeness and negative predictor of jealousy.

Keywords: phubbing, phubber, relationship closeness, jealousy, and working women.

Effective communication is an essential component of a successful intimate relationship

day personal life. They have become a vital component of our daily lives, irrespective of age,

across the globe (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas 2018). This current technology profusion leads

to technological interruptions in couples’ interaction which is termed as technoference

(McDaniel & Coyne, 2016) or phubbing, a blend of “phone” and “ignorance” towards a romantic

partner (Roberts & David, 2016). Lately, several researchers have focused on the effects of

technoference or phubbing among couples and found it as a common phenomenon within an

intimate relationship. The higher extent of phubbing is linked with jealousy, relational discord,

and a lower rate of relationship cohesion, gratification, and intimacy (Amichai-Hamburger &

Etgar, 2016; Halpern & Katz, 2017; Krasnova et al., 2016; McDaniel & Coyne, 2016; McDaniel

et al., 2018; Roberts & David, 2016; Wang et al., 2017). Henceforth, excessive usage of

PHUBBING, RELATIONSHIP CLOSENESS AND JEALOUSY 83

negatively influence relationship satisfaction in couples. Similar findings were observed in other

studies as well (Hall et al. 2014; Halpern & Katz, 2017; Roberts & David, 2016; Wang et al.,

2017). The differences observed were due to different moderators which directly affect the result

of phubbing and in turn, this positively influences relationship closeness or has no impact on

relationship satisfaction.

Previous studies have reported that marital relationship, self-esteem, and gender also play

the role of moderator in some cases (Hall et al., 2014; Halpern & Katz 2017; Roberts & David

2016; Wang et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2021). Wang and his colleagues (2017) also observed in

their study that the length of relationship moderates partner phubbing impact on relationship

satisfaction. The current study did not control moderator variables however, the researcher tried

admit to being engaged in phubbing significant others. In simpler words, they usually act in

concordance with their moral standards. In one such study participants criticized phubbing yet

they engaged in phubbing their partners and family members and admitted that they

unintentionally engage in phubbing behavior and drift into technology usage (Aagaard, 2020). In

another study, Rainie and Zickuhr (2015) found that 85 % of participants focused that phubbing

hurts conversation in relationships however, at the same time 89 % of participants also admit that

they were engaged in personal phubbing behavior (being phubber) during their time with others.

Individuals were unable to realize their dependency on mobile phones, and in turn, their behavior

becomes normalized and they are unable to identify social cues indicating the impact on their

intimate relationships. Subsequently, inept in identifying how their relationship may suffer due to

observable behavior (Miller & Prentice, 1996). In current technology advancement, it is possible

to imply that the constant observable behavior of being phubbed and being a phubber (personally

engaging in phubbing behavior) makes phubbing a normative societal behavior. As human

beings, individuals desire to have social relationships which is a fundamental and universal need

(Lee & Shrum 2012). When one of the partners is involved in constant phubbing behavior, the

other partner ultimately feels the absence of their counterpart which hampers basic needs, such

as control and affiliation (Roberts & David, 2016). Krasnova et al. (2016)’s study also

demonstrated that phubbing behavior spurs jealousy, desertion, and is a perceived threat due to

trivial interactions among partners which are essential for having a satisfactory romantic

relationship.

84 FAROOQI ET AL.

of excessive indulgence in media on partner dyadic satisfaction (Valkenburg & Peter 2007).

Kraut et al. (1998) argued that by utilization of the internet, individuals are trying to substitute

inadequate social relationships for better relationships. Considering this perspective, phubbing

negatively affects the quality of a relationship and thus leads to negative emotions such as

jealousy, envy, and anger, etc. (Roberts & David 2016; Wang et al., 2017).

Symbolic interactionism postulates that people interactively use different symbols to

cultivate a sense for themselves which are based on different metaphors and associated meanings

which in turn are handled and adapted through (Halpern & Katz 2017; Stryker 1999). Similarly,

people associate meanings to these technology-based communications as they would to other

means of interaction. According to the attribution theory, lack of attention and irresponsibility

closeness among relationship (Murray & Holmes, 2011). Perceived relationship quality includes

relationship commitment, investment, and dependency which determines partner

interdependency level. Hence, positive and negative relationships are simultaneously shared and

communicated among couples. Thus, a married couple is more often affected by the relationship

problem with phubbing (Totenhagen et al., 2016). Existing research found that phubbing

behavior among married couples are represented by a lack of closeness to one another, and this

leads to jealousy and poor mental well-being (McNulty & Karney, 2002; Rodriguez et al., 2013).

Considering existing literature, the current study intends to explore the impact of phubbing on

relationship closeness and triggering different negative emotions in our collectivist society.

Contemporary research demonstrates that when couples use a smartphone in the presence

conversation quality in close relationships (Abeele et al., 2016) which is another objective of the

study at hand. Men are more likely to indulge in smartphones while ignoring their wives which

negatively affects women triggering negative emotions such as jealousy, envy, etc. (Chen et al.,

2017). Due to this, they are more likely to engage in phubbing behavior themselves and this, in

turn, works as a vicious cycle impacting their relationship and causing negative emotions such as

envy and jealousy which is the focus of the current study.

Previous researches have shown that phubbing causes a lack of attention towards the

partner and spurs fear of losing an intimate relationship (Schmitt et al., 1994). Furthermore, fear

of losing a partner was more likely in women than men, leading to jealousy experienced by

women (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Phubbing causes jealousy in wives which leads to doubts

PHUBBING, RELATIONSHIP CLOSENESS AND JEALOUSY 85

jealousy in an intimate relationship. In an individualistic culture, couples are more inclined to

their partner and it is acceptable behavior. But in a collectivist culture, there is no openness to

demonstrate closeness in the presence of others in Asian society (Taywade & Khubalkar, 2019).

This further intensifies the impact of phubbing on married couples. However, Islamic ideology

influences differently in cultures. Cizmeci (2017) found no negative relationship between partner

phubbing and relationship satisfaction in the Turkish sample as Islamic ideology imposes

continuation of relationship in all circumstances. So, the present study intends to explore the

cultural differences and the relation between phubbing and relationship closeness, and the effect

of phubbing has on jealousy in working women living in the collectivistic Islamic culture of

Pakistan.

among married working women.

working women.

Hypotheses of the Study

 There is likely to be a relationship between phubbing, relationship closeness, and

jealousy in married working women.

 Phubbing is likely to be a significant predictor of jealousy and relationship closeness

among married women.

Method

Research Design

The co-relational research design was employed in the current study.

illnesses were excluded from the study. The details of demographics can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1

Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Sample

86 FAROOQI ET AL.

Instruments

The Generic Scale of Phubbing (GSP) developed by Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas

(2018) consists of 15 items used to evaluate phubbing behaviour. It is a seven point Likert scale,

ranging from “never” to “always”. It consists of four sub-scales: Nomophobia (fear of

detachment from one’s mobile phone), Interpersonal Conflict (perceived conflict between

Acknowledgment (acknowledging that person have a phubbing problem). Chronbach's alpha

reliability estimate of GSP in the present study was observed to be α = 0.93 and for sub-scales, it

ranged from .85 to .93.

Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (MJS; Pfeiffer & Wong, 1989)

The Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (MJS) developed by Pfeiffer and Wong (1989)

measures three components of jealousy on a seven point rating scale. On cognitive and

behavioral scale rating ranged from “never” to “all the times” whereas on the emotional subscale

rating extended from “very pleased” to “very upset”. The Cronbach alpha reliability estimate of

the scale was .78 with subscales observed to be above .80 in the present study.

The Unidimensional Closeness Relationship Scale (URCS; Dibble et al., 2012)

The Unidimensional Closeness Relationship Scale (URCS) is a self-report measure

focused on assessing closeness in any social or personal relationship. This scale is also a seven

point Likert scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” with an alpha reliability

estimate of .94 in the current study.

women, they were easily able to understand the scales. Based on the pilot study, scales were not

translated into their native language.

psychologically during the research process.

Results

The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in different steps. First

of all, descriptive statistics were computed to obtain a preliminary profile of study variables, and

reliability was established through Cronbach’s alpha reliability. In the second step, Pearson

product-moment correlation was analysed to assess the relationship between phubbing,

PHUBBING, RELATIONSHIP CLOSENESS AND JEALOUSY 87

relationship closeness, jealousy, and demographic variables. In the last step, linear regression

was computed to predict the effect of phubbing on relationship closeness and jealousy.

Table 2

Descriptive of the Generic Scale of Phubbing, Unidimensional Closeness Relationship, and

Multidimensional Jealousy Scale

M

Table 2 demonstrated that all study variables have a satisfactory reliability coefficient

which is above the minimum range of .60 (van Griethuijsen, et. al., 2014).

88 FAROOQI ET AL.

The findings of Table 3 revealed that phubbing is significantly positively correlated with

relationship closeness and negatively correlated with jealousy, moreover, non-significantly

correlated with years of job and years of marriage. The subscale of nomophobia is positively

correlated with relationship closeness, and negatively correlated with jealousy, emotional

jealousy. The interpersonal conflict dimension of phubbing is non-significantly correlated to

study variables and demographic variables. Self-isolation is significantly positively associated

with jealousy and its domains of cognitive and emotional jealousy, but non-significantly related

to behavioral jealousy. The sub-scale of problem acknowledgment is negatively correlated with

jealousy and its sub-scale cognitive and behavioral jealousy.

Relationship closeness demonstrated a significant negative correlation with self-isolation,

of marriage.

Note. GSP= Generic Scale of Phubbing; N=200.

p <.01.

PHUBBING, RELATIONSHIP CLOSENESS AND JEALOUSY 89

Discussion

The objective of the present study was to explore the relationship between phubbing,

relationship closeness, and jealousy in working married women and to determine the impact of

phubbing on jealousy and relationship closeness. The results of the current study demonstrate

that phubbing is positively correlated with relationship closeness, nomophobia, and a positive

predictor of relationship closeness. However, being involved in phubbing behavior is negatively

correlated with feelings of jealousy, emotional and behavioral jealousy. and a negative predictor

of jealousy which is consistent with the existing literature (Amichai-Hamburger & Etgar, 2016;

Halpern & Katz, 2017; Krasnova et al., 2016; McDaniel & Coyne, 2016; McDaniel et al., 2018;

Wang et al., 2017). When an individual is a victim of phubbing behavior, they intentionally or

their relationship as still intact (Chotpitayasunondh & Douglas, 2016; Vorderer et al., 2018).

Constant excessive smartphone usage leads to intentional and unintentional disconnection among

individuals which, in turn, becomes a vicious cycle of phubbing (Barford, 2013; David &

Roberts, 2020; Kelly, 2015; Mount, 2015) leading to jealousy which is seen in the findings of the

current study. This can further be explained by symbolic interactionism theory which states that

individuals' actions towards others are determined on the basis of meaning they devise for

themselves and these interpretations can be altered via an interpretative process involving self-

reflective individuals interacting symbolically with others (Halpern & Katz, 2017). Individuals

having high self-esteem rather remain unaffected by phubbing as they do not perceive it as a

problem. Thus, individuals having high self-esteem are less prone to the negative impact on

closeness which is in line with the studies conducted by Wang and his colleagues (2021) and

Cizmeci’s (2017) study conducted on couples in Turkey. Cizmeci (2017) found in his study that

women reported more relationship satisfaction with phubbing behavior. The reason they gave

was related to practicing the Islamic ideology in Turkey in which marriage is considered as

sacred and continuation of marriage is integral in terms of public expectation (Hunler & Gencoz,

2005). Similar findings were observed in the current study as phubbing was found to be

positively associated with relationship closeness by married working women. They try to

maintain their marital relationship in all circumstances for the sake of others, due to the influence

of collectivist culture and Islamic ideology, and they are unable to foresee the impact phubbing

behavior can have on their relationship.

90 FAROOQI ET AL.

(nomophobia) which is positively allied with relationship closeness and decreases the feeling of

jealousy among working women. This is more likely found in our collectivist culture as women

are considered more responsible for maintaining a marital relationship as compared to men. So,

they are more focused on acknowledging phubbing problems and try to intentionally resolve it

and this, in turn, decreases jealousy and increases relationship closeness among them even while

engaging in phubbing behavior.

The findings of the current study further revealed that relationship closeness is

significantly negatively correlated with jealousy and its sub-domains of cognitive and behavioral

jealousy which is also supported by the existing studies (Pfeiffer & Wong, 1989; Roberts &

David, 2016), and demonstrated that as relationship closeness increases, the feeling of jealousy

Barelds and Barelds-Dijkstra (2007) observed in their study that individuals who perceived a

higher level of jealousy reported lower relationship quality that ultimately aggravated

relationship problems (Buunk, 1997).

Years of marriage and years of being on job were found to be positively correlated with

jealousy and negatively associated with relationship closeness. When partners are involved in

excessive smartphone usage for a longer duration (comprised of years) due to their job

requirements, this, in turn, interferes with offline human interaction and relationship quality

(Abeele et al., 2016; Przybylski & Weinstein 2013). Ultimately, the other partner becomes

frustrated and this leads to relationship problems (Oduor et al. 2016).

The current findings are consistent with existing literature as it has been observed in our