Associate Professor of Psychology Gili Freedman and co-author Darcy Powell (Roanoke College) recently published an article "A cross-national comparison of ghosting knowledge, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors in friendships and romantic relationships spanning twelve countries" in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
In this set of studies, researchers investigated whether ghosting (i.e., ending a relationship by cutting contact) was a known and used form of rejection in romantic relationships and friendships across twelve different countries (Brazil, Canada, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, the Ukraine, U.S.). They found that it is commonly known, though it sometimes goes by different names, and that there was considerable variability in terms of how frequently people report using it and how acceptable they find it across the countries.
