Self-esteem or also known as one’s view of themselves. Our self-esteem can either be increased or decreased due to many factors that are played out in our daily lives. It is known that social media can cause low self-esteem in both genders but mostly on women. (Barthorpe, A., et al., 2020 )“Found that a greater amount of time spent on social media was associated with increased risk of self-harm and depression and lower levels of self-esteem in females”. Too much of social media use can indeed cause certain types of psychological issues. Most of the time both men and women can become addicted to social media based on what they see. It appears that people with lower self-esteem tend to depend on social media more (Hawi, and Samaha, 2017) which shows that people who already have low self-esteem wants to be on social media and they depend on it because they want to maintain their friendships, and relationships. According to #Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem, they found that “adolescents who are emotionally invested in social media sites are at risk of anxiety and depression due to the feeling of distress and isolation they experience when they are not connected to social media” (Woods, Scott, 2016). There seem to be a correlation between too much social media use and Domestic Violence.

Our self-esteem can betray us at times, especially when we are involved in romantic relationships. We are constantly looking for more ways to improve our personality and looks. This is a form of low-self-esteem. According to “Is social media screen time really associated with poor adolescent mental health?” findings from several studies have suggested that social media usage may be associated with poor mental health in adolescents. Their question was whether social media usage is more intensively by females and may it be an important contributor to the gender difference. They used cross-sectional questionnaire data derived from the Millennium Cohort study and they found out that the time spent on social media at age 14 was associated with depressive symptoms and a stronger association on females than males. They will use time use diaries to provide a less biased measure of social media usage. They used a cross-sectional data from sixth sweep. They interviewed about 11.844 individuals and their sample comprised of 2,864 13-year-old, and 8,860 14 year old and 160 15 year old. About 10,337 were invited to submit time use diaries and performed a 48-time period, which was recorded on paper, online or via an app. They found that greater amount of time that was spent on social media was associated with an increased risk of self-harm in females. Based on the novel time use diary data they found that lower levels of self-esteem in females. Even though females were overrepresented in the study and it indicated that females’ adolescents reported to spend more time on social media and reported to have poorer mental health than the males. The increased risk of poor mental health in female adolescents compared to males was established and it was a variety of contributing factors which included, biological, environmental, pressure to conform to societal expectations of body image. (Barthope, A., et.al, 2020)

Domestic violence is a violent act, or aggression towards another person typically in a home, and can be a spouse to his/her partner and vice versa.  Domestic violence can either be emotional, physical, economical, mental, and sexual.  Women between the ages of 18-24 are most commonly abused by an intimate partner (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2020,  https://ncadv.org/statistics) which shows how women are prone to domestic violence, but it’s not only women who it can impact but men as well. Some of the factors that seems to cause domestic violence is low-self-esteem, jealously, and gender roles.

According to Explaining the Relationship Between Insecure Attachment and Partner Abuse: The Role of Personality Characteristics (Buck, et al, 2012) “Distrust and separation anxiety showed to be important factors in relation to battering” Which shows that jealousy can cause distrust and therefore making trust issues with the partner.  In the study they wanted to test which personality characteristics can explain the relationships between insecure attachment and domestic violence. They used 72 mean who were in a group treatment for battering and 62 non-battered men participated in the study. Their results were that 26 batteres (39.4%) who were securely attached and 40 batteres (60.6%) who were insecurely attached. Insecure attachment is when a person depends on other people’s approval and if the person presents the slightest indication of disapproval, criticism, or disinterest, it can strengthen or lower their self-esteem. Distrust and separation anxiety showed to be important factors in relation to battering. The present results showed that insecurely attached batterers report more dependency. Securely attached batterers report less dependency. Found that individuals with insecure attachment style are 2.5 times more likely to be a batterer than those who are securely attached. It seems that people who are insecurely attached seems to be so dependent on their partner and wants them to make them feel good.

“Attachment styles as predictors of Facebook-related jealously and surveillance in romantic relationships” a study from 2013. Facebook has been a famous social networking site over the past years. There were very few studies that have examined the role within romantic relationships. They used 225 participants (201 women, and 54 men) who were included in a sample. The participants indicated that they were daily users of Facebook and involved in romantic relationships. An online survey was created to collect data. For attachment styles they use the experience in close relationships scale revised (ECR-R) Questionnaire. The study showed that anxious attachment is positively associated with Facebook jealously. They also found that anxious people tend to feel that they are unworthy of love, and as such that their partners may leave them for someone else (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). They said that lack of trust and heightened jealously may lead highly anxious individuals to hypervigilant check their Facebook page, and ambiguous cues that are perceived as threatening may intensify anxiety, jealously and mistrust in a vicious cycle (Marshall, et al, 2013)

The Role of Social Networking Sites in Romantic Relationships: Effects on Jealousy and Relationship Happiness. Their aim of the study was to focus on the personality and relationships variables that are indicators of SNS use. They used online surverys (N- 194,560 males and 138 females) which contained questions on SNS use. They found that people experienced more happiness than jealousy in reaction to the partners activities on SNS. Low self esteem individuals experienced more social networking jealousy than those with higher self-esteem, Low self-esteem individuals may compensate lack of self esteem by publicly displaying a happy relationship

In the study, Psychological and Social Ramifications of Battering Observations leading to a counseling methodology for victims of Domestic Violence, they define wife beating as the following: “Wife beating exists when the wife is in fear of the husband’s superior strength and combative ability and has no means of matching or beating him or effectively defending himself or stopping him (Davidson, 1978). They describe the profiles of men who batter as Jealousy of Partner, Control and Isolation of Partner, Jekyll and Hyde Personalities, Explosive temper, Projection, A history of Family Violence, and Denial.  Jealously of Partner was described when men accuse their partner of having other sexual relationships, and irrational jealousy may arise from the man’s own insecurities and projection (Wetzel & Ross, 1983). Which is interesting to see how males tend to think that their counterparts are always doing things behind their backs.  Control and Isolation of Partner, meaning when perpetrators will go out in extreme lengths to isolate and control their partners, the male who batters tends to be a loner, he enjoys the company of his own family and friends: Neither is permitted to her. (Wetzel & Ross, 1983). Which shows how men do not want their partner to be around anyone because they think that their partner will leave them for someone else, and therefore making their partner isolated. Jekyll and Hyde Personalities, men who have a problem with violence tends to exhibit drastic personality changes (Wetzel & Ross, 1983). Meaning that men who have been exposed to violence before tending to have an attitude change within the relationship.  Explosive temper if a traumatic event happens such as failure can trigger beating in the perpetrator (Wetzel & Ross, 1983).  Projection, a man who batters can easily blame other people and external events of his own behavior (Wetzel & Ross, 1983).  A history of Family Violence, 42% of the abusers of those victims who was interviewed by the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence were abused as children (Wetzel & Ross, 1983).  Lastly Denial, the most common “I didn’t hit her” are universal denials (Wetzel & Ross, 1983). Which is very common in domestic violence, the perpetrator does not want to accept the fact that they were abusive or impulsive towards the victim.

For future research, there should be more studies on how males and culture background can affect self-esteem, it is known that machismo in central America is taught to young males and they are taught that males are more dominant and should obtain power of women. There should be more research on how jealousy in men can affect their self-esteem, although looking at their partner page can trigger them, most times when the males have outside relationships, they can be impulsive and think that their partner is doing the same. There should be more studies on men and women who believe in machismo and have an equal amount of people in a study.

In conclusion, Social media is associated with Domestic Violence, when a person is on social media, they tend to have low self-esteem and wants to be perfect for their lover. We also see how jealousy can arise from social media, especially when males are insecurely attached to their partner and wants to know what their partner is doing 24/7. Jealousy can be correlated to aggression leading to violence, when men realize that things don’t turn out his way he will find a way to make sure what he says is being done. There should be more people educated in this aspect, not all the time that domestic violence is physical but rather can be emotional, economical, psychological, and sexual.

Reference

Buck, N.M.L., Leenaars, E.P.E.M., Emmelkamp, P.M.G., and van Marle, H.J.C (2012) Explaining the Relationships Between Insecure Attachment and Partner Abuse. Journal of interpersonal violence 27, 3149-3170

Marshall, T.C., Bejanyan, K., Di Castro, G., Lee, R.A., (2013) Attachment Styles as predictors of Facebook-related jealousy and surveillance in romantic relationships. Personal Relationships, 20, 1-22

Wetzel, L., Ross, A., (1983) Psychological and Social Ramification of Battering Observations Leading to a Counseling Methodology for victims of Domestic Violence. The Personnel and Guidance Journal, 1-7.

Utz, S, Beukeboom, C.J., (2011) The Role of Social Networking Sites in Romantic Relationships: Effects on Jealousy and Relationship Happiness. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 16, 511- 527.

Hawi, N.S., Samaha, M., (2016) The Relations Among Social Media Addiction, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction in University Students. Social Science Computer Review, 35(5), 576-586.

Barthope, A., Winstone, L., Mars, B., Moran, P., (2020) Is social media screen time really associated with poor adolescent mental health? A time use diary study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 274, 864- 870