• DOI:10.1080/01463373.2015.1039719
• Corpus ID: 141581684

Simmering on the Back Burner: Communication with and Disclosure of Relationship Alternatives

@article{Dibble2015SimmeringOT,
  title={Simmering on the Back Burner: Communication with and Disclosure of Relationship Alternatives},
  author={Jayson L. Dibble and Michelle Drouin and Krystyna Strzyzewski Aune and Robert Randall Boller},
  journal={Communication Quarterly},
  year={2015},
  volume={63},
  pages={329 - 344}
}

• Jayson L. Dibble, M. Drouin, +1 author R. Boller
• Published 27 May 2015
• Education
• Communication Quarterly

The term “back burner” describes a desired potential romantic/sexual partner with whom one communicates with the intent of establishing a future romantic or sexual connection. Contemporary communication technologies (e.g., mobile phones, social networking applications) facilitate connections with back burners. Two survey studies (Ns = 347, 374) showed that back burner communication is relatively common among college students; however, college students also have many romantic or sexual interests that they do not consider back burners. Additionally, although most college students will not fully disclose their communication with back burners to their partners, approximately half fully disclose communication with romantic or sexual desirables to their partners. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that back burners can be distinguished from those with whom we would entertain having a romantic or sexual connection. Theoretically, they can also be distinguished from other types of casual sexual relationships.