Role Of Relationship Attachment In Smartphone Addiction And Marital Conflict Among Couples

Abstract

The present study aimed to find out the role of relationship attachment in smartphone addiction and marital conflict among couples further focusing on gender differences. A cross-sectional research design was used in the current study. The data of married couples were selected from Faisalabad city. The sample of this study comprised of 65 marri[1]ed couples with age range of 20- 40 years (M =28.25, SD = 1.5) using purposive sampling strategy. The minimum qualification of research participants was intermediate. The duration of their marriage ranged between three to seven years. Adult Attachment Styles Scale-Revised (AAS-18: Collins & Read, 1996), Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV-10: Kwon et al., 2013), Romantic Partner Conflict Scale (RPCS-39; Zacchilli et al., 2009) were used as study measures. The dependent attachment style was negatively correlated with smartphone addiction while smartphone addiction was found to be positively correlated with the domains of marital conflict (interactional reactivity and dominance). Furthermore, smartphone addiction was found to be a significant predictor of marital conflict. The results also revealed that husbands scored high on smartphone addiction as compared to wives. On the basis of the findings psychological interventions could be designed and implemented to manage marital conflicts in couples. To deal with the problem of smartphone addiction awareness workshops regarding the negative psychosocial impact of smartphone addiction on marital life specifically marital conflict can be arranged for the married couples.