Loneliness and social media: A qualitative investigation of young people's motivations for use and perceptions of social networking sites

The democratisation of Internet access has incrementally changed every domain of activity and has created new business and economic models. From answering work emails to learning a new language, shopping, booking medical appointments or managing one’s finances, almost everything is attainable at the click of a button. The added implications of the rapid rise of social networking websites (SNSs), such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat, have further contributed to changing the way we communicate and build new friendships. Indeed most of our social relationships are now being ‘increasingly developed and maintained online’ (Nowland, Necka & Cacioppo, 2017: 1). Ostensibly, despite improved Internet access and enhanced social connectedness, modern societies are struggling to combat loneliness. It is reported to affect people of all ages, especially young adults (16-24 and 25-34 years old) who are avid Internet and social media users (see Office for National Statistics, 2018)

Development of a relational rumination questionnaire

Rumination about romantic relationships has been implicated in interpersonal problems generally, and intimate partner violence and stalking of former romantic partners specifically. While various scales exist to measure depressive, angry, or general rumination, no existing scale comprehensively assesses rumination on romantic relationships. This paper describes the development and validation of the Relational Rumination Questionnaire (RelRQ). The RelRQ was developed and tested across two studies involving university students and members of the general population. Study 1 (n = 578) used exploratory factor analyses to develop an 18-item RelRQ from a larger item pool. The derived three-factor structure: 1) romantic preoccupation rumination; 2) relationship uncertainty rumination; and 3) break-up rumination was confirmed in Study 2 (n = 525), and the scale was revised to a 16-item version. Total RelRQ and subscale scores showed high internal consistency, good test-retest reliability, and expected correlations with related constructs such as insecure attachment, anger rumination, and negative affect. Results indicate that the RelRQ can be used in future studies to test if relational rumination is associated with maladaptive relational outcomes such as intimate partner violence and stalking