Millennials, your Facebook posts say a lot about your real-life relationships

You can predict people’s social networks and the way people manage their networks from their personality.

Your attachment style -- how avoidant or anxious you are in a close relationship in real life -- also applies on social media platforms like Facebook, researchers reveal. “Attachment style, thought to play a central role in romantic and parent-child relationships, was found to also play a role in people’s broader social network of friends,” said Omri Gillath, Professor of Psychology at the University of Kansas, who headed the research.

Your attachment style -- how avoidant or anxious you are in a close relationship in real life -- also applies on social media platforms like Facebook, researchers reveal. (REUTERS)

The findings showed that you can predict the structure of people’s social networks and the way people manage their networks from their personality. The researchers also looked at how people manage their networks, including how they initiate, maintain and dissolve ties.

They found that people high on attachment avoidance were less likely to initiate and maintain, and more likely to dissolve social network ties. “Surprisingly, people high on anxiety were expected to be less likely to dissolve ties -- they’re often concerned about being rejected or abandoned and want to merge with their relationship partners, which made us think they would be less likely to dissolve ties,” Gillath said.

However, they were found to report higher tendency for dissolution than non-anxious people. Gillath said that due to their high levels of concern and desire to merge with others, anxiously attached people may end up pushing members away.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.