View of the Facebook homepage taken in Washington on May 6, 2012. Facebook, already assured of becoming one of the most valuable US firms when it goes public later this month, now must convince investors in the next two weeks that it is worth all the hype. Top executives at the world's leading social network have kicked off their all-important road show on Wall Street -- an intense marketing drive ahead of the company's expected trading launch on the tech-heavy Nasdaq on May 18. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages) File photo of the Facebook homepage. (credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

MENLO PARK, Cali. (CBS Sacramento) – According to a new study, Facebook as well as other social media websites may increase the likelihood of divorce.

“Results show that using social networking sites negatively correlated with marriage quality and happiness, and positively correlated with experiencing a troubled relationship and thinking about divorce,” the researchers noted in the study obtained by The Christian Post.

Researchers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Boston University’s College of Communication say they found a link between Facebook and divorce.

Researchers say a 20 percent increase in the population of a state with a Facebook account correlated with a 2.18 percent increase in the rate of divorce.

“This study explores the relationship between using social network sites, marriage satisfaction, and divorce rate using survey data of married individuals and state-level data from the United States,” the researchers noted in the study’s abstract.

Researchers took into account multiple factors on how social media usage and divorce may be linked.

“If the preliminary findings in this study are sustained, it would represent an important step forward in the study of SNS and human behavior,” the researchers noted in the study’s conclusion. “It would also raise profound questions about the role of social media in daily lives. Finally, it would spur new lines of research in understanding the role of Facebook in divorce and marital satisfaction, prompting a host of policy-oriented research endeavors by social scientist.”

The researchers stressed that correlation does not imply causation. They know that other factors may also contribute to divorce.

The study was published in the July 2014 edition of Computers in Human Behavior.