Room for interpretation: the role of self-esteem and CMC in romantic couple conflict.

This work explores the role of communication technologies during romantic couple conflict, and the impact that self-esteem has on behavior, preferences for communication channels, and attitudes about mediated communication during conflict. Results revealed that lower levels of self-esteem and communicating via text messaging (vs. face-to-face) were associated with increased distancing and perceived partner distancing behaviors. Lower levels of self-esteem and using mediated communication were also associated with a greater likelihood of thinking that a conflict had a negative impact on the relationship. Yet, there was no evidence to suggest that individuals with lower levels of self-esteem exhibited more negative behaviors and perceptions in text-based communication than in FtF communication. In addition, lower levels of self-esteem were associated with increased use of and preferences for text-based mediated communication over FtF communication during conflict. Overall, this study suggests that both self-esteem and communication channel impact the nature of romantic couple conflict.