Paper Details

With the increasing use of smartphones, partner phubbing has emerged as a common relational behavior in romantic relationships, where individuals focus more on their devices than their partners during interaction (Roberts & David, 2016). Previous research has shown that these behaviors are associated with the feelings of rejection, reduced perceived attention and decreased relationship quality (Beuekeboom et al, 2021). Yet, its direct influence on emotional closeness remains unclear among digitally adaptive young adults. The present study aimed at discerning the effect of partner phubbing on emotional intimacy among young adults in a romantic relationship. Data were collected from 107 participants (72 females and 35 males), aged between 20 to 35 years using purpose sampling. The scales administered were Emotional Intimacy Scale (Sinclair & Dowdy, 2005) and Partner Phubbing Scale (Roberts & David, 2016). A simple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine whether partner phubbing is negative predictor of emotional intimacy. The findings indicated that partner phubbing is a significant predictor of emotional intimacy with 18 % variance. Thus, these findings suggest that when partners use their phone in a way that ignores the other person, it clearly affects how close and emotionally connected they feel each other. Therefore, this study highlights the need for further research studies regarding smartphone engagement behaviour to better understand their long-term influence on romantic relationships. Hence, further research studies should focus on modification of digital habits among young adults that can improve emotional closeness in a romantic relationship.

Keywords- Phubbing, Emotional Intimacy, Young Adults, Romantic Relationship