A Screenshot Is Worth a Thousand Words: Capturing Affective Behavior in Romantic Dyadic Digital Communication.

Digital communication is increasingly prevalent in adolescent populations. Adolescents estimate that 50-60% of their relational communication occurs via text messaging (Coyne, Stockdale, Busby, Iverson, & Grant, 2011). With the increasing use of technology, conflict and relationship stressors are prevalent online. Social media and text messaging are associated with jealousy, monitoring behavior, and lower emotional support (Arikewuyo et al., 2020, Holtzman et al., 2017). These emerging trends make it critical for researchers to examine how technology can play a role in relationships.

Typically, researchers use questionnaires to see how participants interact in digital spaces. Self-reported methods are not ideal as they have limitations as participants may misrepresent themselves even if it is unintentional. To overcome these limitations, researchers have begun utilizing screenomics, a method in which photos of participants’ screens (screenshots) are taken every 3 seconds when the phone is in active use (Ram et al., 2020). However, these screenshots often lack context for digital interactions and result in large amounts data that may not capture specific events of interest to researchers (Ram et al., 2020). In-person dyadic communication can be studied through observational methods. The SPAFF (Specific Affect Coding System Manual) has been used to examine affectual behaviors because of it has high construct and criterion validity, effectively captures verbal and non-verbal behaviors, and associates discrete behaviors with latent psychological constructs (Coan & Gottman, 2007). It is important to understand if the measures used to study in-person behavior can be adapted to examine digital behavior in order to improve the quality of digital communication research.