Cutting off communication in an abrupt manner with a friend or romantic interest has unfortunately become common in society, and has even been given a name: ghosting.
While previous studies have explored the mental health consequences of ghosting on the victims, a new study from the University of Vienna explores the mental health of the “ghoster”.
The results, published in the journal “Telematics & Informatics”, show that ghosting has different effects, depending on whhether it takes place within friendships or romantic relationships.
The researchers conducted two rounds of surveys, four months apart, among young adults aged 16 to 21. In the first round, 978 people were surveyed, while 415 were surveyed in the second.
Respondents were asked how often they had ghosted friends or romantic partners, without explicitly being asked about the practice of “ghosting” or even using the term. Instead, the researchers described behaviours such as as cutting off contact online without saying why.
Lead researcher and study author Michaela Forrai explains: “The fact that the term ‘ghosting’ is often understood in different ways was a major starting point. In our study, we do not only consider it ghosting when contact is cut off for good, but also when communication from one side comes to a halt for an unexpectedly long period of time.
“What is crucial is that this happens without explanation.”
The research found that the psychological causes and effects of ghosting vary between friendships and romantic relationships. For example, excessive communication (for example, a flood of messages) often leads to ghosting in a romantic relationship, but not in a friendly one.
The authors explain this by the fact that interactions in romantic relationships are more demanding and time-consuming than friendships. By ghosting their partner, the ghosters are acting to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Furthermore, people with high self-esteem are more likely to ghost their friends, as higher self-esteem typically comes with more active behaviour. But no relationship was found between self-esteem and ghosting romantic partners.
These findings support the fact that ghosting is socially entrenched and has become normalised in our interactions. Nevertheless, this practice may still have negative consequences for ghosters: respondents who reported ghosting their friends also showed an increase in depressive feelings over the second study period.
Yet, unlike what the authors had expected, a person’s depressive tendencies do not make ghosting others more likely, neither among romantic partners nor among friends.
While those with mental health problems are more likely to withdraw (which makes it seem plausible that they would ghost others), they also look for support in their environment (which makes ghosting others less likely).
“Based on our results, we would like to give an impulse for reflecting on one’s own ghosting behaviour, especially within friendships,” Forrai concluded. “This could reduce negative consequences for oneself and also for potential ghostees.”
In 2018, a study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that of more than 1,300 people surveyed, 20% had been ghosted and 25% had ghosted someone.