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Post-Breakup Instagram Surveillance: Attachment Style, Personality Traits, and Breakup Distress as Predictors
Valentina Wegener1, Henrik Bischoff2, Christiane Eichenberg2
1Faculty of Psychology, Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking
|July 2, 2026
Summary
Monitoring ex-partners on Instagram after a breakup, known as Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance (IES), is linked to emotional distress. This digital behavior may hinder healthy coping and adjustment following relationship termination.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Media Studies
- Relationship Science
Background:
- Romantic relationship dissolution is a significant emotional challenge.
- Social media platforms like Instagram facilitate post-breakup partner monitoring, termed Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance (IES).
- IES may impede effective coping mechanisms and adjustment after a breakup.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the associations between Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance (IES) on Instagram and attachment styles, personality traits, and emotional distress.
- To extend previous research on monitoring behaviors to Instagram, a platform popular among young adults.
- To examine the role of personality factors in post-breakup digital surveillance.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional online questionnaire data from 232 participants (aged 18-27) who experienced a breakup and followed their ex-partner on Instagram.
- Utilized standardized measures and self-constructed items to assess IES, attachment, personality, and emotional distress.
- Employed hierarchical regression analyses, mediation analyses, and independent-samples t-tests to analyze the data.
Main Results:
- Extraversion was the sole personality trait directly associated with increased Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance (IES).
- Attachment styles did not show direct associations with IES once emotional distress was accounted for.
- Emotional distress was the most consistent factor linked to IES, with indirect associations involving Neuroticism and anxious attachment.
Conclusions:
- Emotional distress plays a central role in post-breakup digital surveillance behaviors on social media.
- Interpersonal Electronic Surveillance (IES) on platforms like Instagram may represent a maladaptive coping strategy.
- Addressing social media use is crucial for supporting healthy post-breakup adjustment.
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