Modern Love: A quantitative study to determine the correlation between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction in South African marriages

Abstract

The increase of smartphone users worldwide has created a new phenomenon in society known as partner phubbing. Partner phubbing refers to the behaviour of ignoring one's spouse during a face-to-face interaction to attend to one's smartphone. It was found that studies in South Africa regarding partner phubbing and its impact on relationship satisfaction are limited. This study addressed this gap in existing literature by determining the correlation between partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction in South African marriages. A quantitative design was used in order to study the variables of partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction in South African marriages. 40 married participants completed an online survey which measured these two variables. Results indicated that partner phubbing negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction in South African marriages. The results from this study emphasises the importance of partner phubbing as a phenomenon in South African marriages which warrants further investigation.