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The active use of social media can potentially jeopardize the quality of romantic relationships. The present study contributes to the existing research body investigating the connection between social media use and relationship satisfaction, by focusing on the users' social media activity, their relationship visibility, relationship satisfaction and the different types of intimacy. We conducted a web-based data collection where participants (n 418) completed various types of questionnaires, namely the Social Media Use Integration Scale (SMUIS) (Jenkins-Guarnieri, 2013), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, 1985), the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) (Hendrick, 1988), Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (PAIR) (Schaefer & Olson, 1981), and an additional questionnaire created to study the visibility of romantic relationships on social media. To analyze the collected data, first a correlation analysis was conducted. The findings show that there is a negative correlation between social media activity and romantic relationship satisfaction. Besides, social media activity is negatively associated with emotional, intellectual, recreational and social intimacy. No negative correlation has been found regarding social media activity and sexual intimacy. The correlation analysis also indicates that the users' visibility on social networks is negatively associated with relationship satisfaction and with all types of intimacy, predominantly with social and recreational intimacy. In the second part of the study, a series of moderated regression analysis were carried out. These analyses have shown that social media activity does not moderate the association between romantic relationships' visibility on social media and relationship satisfaction.

The relevance of the topic is related to the psychosocial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim is to study the subjective well-being during the beginning of the pandemic and introduction of the quarantine measures and their connection to social media activity. The methods employed in the present study include various types of questionnaires, namely the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmnos, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), and an original questionnaire developed to study the impact of the pandemic and the respondents' understanding and perceptions of it. The findings of the quantitative analysis show that the subjective well-being during the pandemic is connected to the use of social media, life satisfaction, health risks assessments and economic consequences, leisure time and the level of self-efficacy. A qualitative analysis indicates that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine the negative predictions of the consequences of both the pandemic and the implemented quarantine measures prevail among the subjects. A longitudinal study during one month has found a reduction in health concerns, and respondents began to assess the threat to their health and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic as less serious than at the beginning. Thus, it can be concluded that from a short-term perspective the negative affect, especially the levels of fear and anxiety, decreased, whereas the level of the positive affect did not change.

AbstractAlthough different social crises may eventually favor undemocratic and authoritarian forms of governance, at some point, such antidemocratic practices require the support of a significant part of the population to be implemented. The present research investigates how and whether the COVID‐19 pandemic might have favoured greater support for antidemocratic governmental practices, on the premise of regaining control and security. Using data from 17 countries (N = 4364) and national‐level indicators (i.e., real number of contagions and deaths, and sociopolitical indicators), we test how the risk of contagion and death from COVID‐19, along with personal orientations (i.e., social dominance orientation [SDO], right‐wing authoritarianism [RWA], and perceived anomie) motivate authoritarian and antidemocratic practices. Results from multilevel models indicate that risk perception and perceptions of political instability predict a wish for stronger leadership, agreement with martial law, and support for a controlling government especially when SDO and RWA are high, while more egalitarian and less conservative people agree less with these authoritarian measures in spite of the levels of risk perception. We discuss the implications for these findings for future research on similar but also dissimilar external events (natural disasters, war, or terror incidents) and the consequences for societies with higher authoritarian tendencies.