"'Phubbing is happening to you': examining predictors and influences of phubbing behavior in friendship

https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2021.1943711

Explanation

Among the many different relationships that have examined phubbing, little is known about friend phubbing (Fphubbing), so this study was designed to identify which individual factors, including mental health indicators (i.e., depression and social anxiety) and personality traits (pleasantness and neuroticism tendencies), are significantly associated with Fphubbing and how such behaviors relate to relationship satisfaction with friends.

Pubbing is the act of using a smartphone to snub someone rather than directing attention to them during a face-to-face interaction.

Results showed that cooperativeness was negatively related to friend aversion, while those with higher levels of depression, social anxiety, and neurotic tendencies were found to be significantly associated with greater friend aversion.

Furthermore, it is suggested that greater fphubbing is associated with less friendship satisfaction. In addition, we found that each predictor of friend phubbing mediated the relationship with friendship satisfaction.

These results provide a theoretical framework for understanding phubbing and are shown to be useful in filling the gaps in our knowledge of phubbing in different relationship types.