The Moderating Role of Gender Between Relationship Closeness and Online Emotional Cheating among Young Adults

Dianne Garcia Flores; Amabelle Ruth De Guzman Carvajal; Camila Marie Garcia Mondejar; Grashann Faith Eugenio Songcuya; Louise Anne Velustria Pagkaliwangan; Daniel Joshua Pineda Maiquez

Dianne Garcia Flores Far Eastern University
Amabelle Ruth De Guzman Carvajal
Camila Marie Garcia Mondejar
Grashann Faith Eugenio Songcuya
Louise Anne Velustria Pagkaliwangan
Daniel Joshua Pineda Maiquez

Abstract

Due to technological advancements, people now communicate easier. However, online communication also permits engagement with illegitimate partners and has the potential to harm relationships. Relationship closeness, on the other hand, has been anticipated as one of the crucial aspects of a romantic relationship. The Gender Schema theory posits that people assimilate constructs into gender categories which makes them behave in a “gender-appropriate” manner. With that, the study aimed to determine whether gender moderates the relationship between relationship closeness and online emotional cheating. Using the non-probability purposive sampling method, a total of 107 young adult participants from Metro Manila, consisting of 47 males and 60 females who are in long-term heterosexual relationship were obtained through online and face-to-face recruitment. The instruments used were Internet Infidelity Scale (IIS-44) and Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale (URCS). The results of the study indicated that there is no significant relationship between relationship closeness and emotional cheating (r = - 0.043, p > 0.05), and no significant relationship was found between gender and online emotional cheating (r = - 0.028, p > 0.05). Further, gender was identified as a non-moderator and has no significant effect on the association between relationship closeness and online emotional cheating (p > 0.05). The data provide new insights and falsify the commonly existing knowledge that relationship closeness is a significant factor in romantic relationships in committing online emotional cheating and that there were differences between men and women in terms of perceiving emotional cheating. Integrating these findings could serve as an expansion of knowledge and contribute to the collective effort of providing explanations in the significant complex changes and development in human behavior.

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