Bucin (Budak Cinta) : The Other Side of Love Addiction in Romantic Relationships in Indonesia

The phenomenon of budak cinta ( bucin ) in the romantic relationships of Indonesian adolescents requires partners to make sacrifices. It becomes crucial because it produces some negative impacts. The researcher explores the causal factors, behavioral patterns


INTRODUCTION
Starting from a trend where young couples show affection on social media, which is then recently known as bucin, people who look too affectionate towards the person they like. The bucin phenomenon was also explored by Cretivox (2020) and Assumption (2020) through their YouTube platform channels and interviews about the forms of bucin behavior that couples have done when dating. As for recapping their answers, researchers looked at their relevance to the love addiction indicator by Griffiths (2005) and Redcay & McMahon (2021).
Both videos explain that individuals who experience bucin consider their partners very meaningful and essential in their lives. So they tend to be indifferent to their obligations, even lying to meet and spend time with their partner. Not infrequently, they also leave worship because of their bucin behavior. In the concept of love addiction, this can also be categorized as salience (spending time with a partner becomes dominant in their minds) and tolerance (becomes a need to increase the intensity of togetherness with a partner) (Griffiths, 2005).
Furthermore, individuals who experience bucin tend to put whatever their partner's interests are over their interests; avoid negative comments from others about their partner so that they will try to make them look good and acceptable in the eyes of others in their social environment. This condition is also appropriate in the criteria for maladaptive behavior, namely lying to cover up unhealthy partner behavior and ignoring self-interest (Redcay & McMahon, 2021).
For those who are in disguise, being bucin is a natural thing because this is part of the manifestation of feelings of love for their partner; for example, the sincerity of someone waiting for the return of their lover is considered bucin by some people. It is natural if this is done within the limits of awareness, assuming that someone can experience fatigue and need sleep. Another case from the point of view of external parties who are around this bucin relationship (friends, relatives, and parents) is that they see this bucin phenomenon as excessive behavior, especially those who are bucin will make their partner a top priority or even forget the hobbies they are interested in before they establish a romantic relationship. The bucin phenomenon that is typical of this teen-style romance drama shows how there are misconceptions about the bucin label itself.
The definition of the bucin among psychology academics has yet to be discussed much scientifically. Bucin is often unlabeled by others with the term "clingy" or "needy" on their partners; that is, the tendency to make their partner the only one in the world they have so that it will indirectly put all the needs of the partner above them, then excessive fear arises even to possessive behavior so that they do not lose their partner.
Some explanations above show a tendency toward the same behavior pattern between bucin and love addiction. The difference is that bucin conditions still allow individuals to live optimally. While in love addiction, individuals cannot function properly when their partner is not around. Under certain conditions, love can indeed develop into addiction. Most addicted individuals may never notice that they have become addicted to romantic relationships, so they do not try to seek help for specific therapies (Rasouli et al., 2019). Love addiction is similar to what Curtis (1983) has found, where it is termed a pathological love relationship, which also means romantic relationship addiction is unhealthy and abnormal. Several studies prove that love addiction has the same aspects and criteria as behavior addiction, even substance addiction (Fisher et al., 2016). Sternberg (2004) states that if the phenomenon of love addiction is analyzed using this theory, only one of the three components of love is comparable to addiction, namely passion. If love is only based on passion alone, commonly termed infatuation, Dayakisni & Hudaniah (2009) mentioned that this type is usually experienced by people who fall in love at first sight by involving obsessions that refer to their partners.
Furthermore, in the development of Redcay & Simonetti (2018), people who show love addiction will pursue someone as an object of their obsession with all the consequences they are ready to accept. Some cases in romantic relationships have characteristics similar to other behavioral or substance addictions. Similarities can be seen in various forms, such as individual functioning and the impact it causes (Earp et al., 2017). In addition, research conducted by Earp et al. (2017) concluded that people whose lives are negatively affected by love should be offered support and treatment similar to that given to drug users. Then a follow-up study conducted by Redcsay & McMahon (2021), where the research framework focused on addiction to love, in some ways, has the same meaning as Griffiths (2005), namely impaired control, life impairment, disregard of a partner's behavior, and emotion dysregulation.
In looking at this phenomenon, researchers also look in a more positive direction rather than labeling these behavior patterns as addictive. This phenomenon is also close to aspects of the theory of the investment model of commitment by Rusbult et al. (2012), which argues that the phenomenon is a central property of a relationship, especially insofar as we try to understand the patterns of persistence in it, so that the level of commitment is defined as the intention to stay in a relationship, including long-term orientation towards involvement and feelings of psychological attachment. As a relationship develops, individuals invest many resources directly into it, hoping it will strengthen the relationship.
In this study, researchers will explore the meaning and experience of bucin. Some important things to find are whether the conceptualization of love addiction is equivalent to bucin, considering that the common phenomenon in dating relationships in Indonesia is not the addiction but emphasizes the bucin. In addition, this concept differs from the bucin that occurs in Indonesia; therefore, the psychometric properties cannot be equated, encouraging researchers to study it more deeply. The theoretical purpose of this study is to provide a psychological picture of the form of behavior, causes, and impact of the phenomenon of bucin attached to dating relationships in Indonesia. The following practical benefit can be obtained as an intervention for behavior patterns in this phenomenon: for example, the intervention can be preventive for couples in romantic relationships, especially adolescents.

METHOD
This study is exploratory research using an indigenous psychology approach. The study will focus on solidifying concepts used in a broader scope of research with a greater conceptual reach. In addition, researchers also try to understand the empirical conditions of individual problems in their social and cultural contexts, which ultimately aims to produce theoretical generalizations about the psychological states of Indonesian society (Faturochman. et al., 2017). Operationally, this approach is a mixed method design, a procedure for collecting, analyzing, and combining quantitative and qualitative methods in a study or a series of studies to understand a research problem.
The data collection process is bottom-up, using open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires processed using descriptive statistical techniques. The descriptive statistical methods used are frequency and crosstab with a chi-square test. Qualitative methods are used by conducting in-depth interviews with several respondents to explore the aspects obtained (Morissan, 2012).
Determining research participants in the context of indigenous psychology research emphasizes the importance of selecting contextual criteria based on the theme of the study itself (Faturochman. et al., 2017). The subjects of this study are Indonesian citizens (WNI), men or women aged 16-30 years who have dated and have not been married. The reason for choosing this age group is their condition, which is assumed to be setting a balance between intimacy and commitment, as well as independence and freedom on the other hand (Santrock, 2012). The collected data were analyzed by the content analysis method, with the final result falling into the categories of behavioral forms, causal factors, and the impact of bucin. The first step in this categorization process was carried out on 50 data samples from 349 randomly selected samples. This goal is to get an initial picture of the categorization that will be formed later according to each aspect. Categorizing and forming themes is carried out based on the qualitative data analysis process from Saldaña (2009). In addition, the researcher also asked for the help of three judges who were considered capable of discussing together and then relating to determining categories and themes according to their respective aspects based on the initial data that had been collected. Then, after the 349th set of data is obtained, it is processed for categorization based on preformed categories. Data processing was then carried out through in-depth interviews with several respondents who had filled out questionnaires to dig deeper into their responses to bucin behavior so that researchers could find the background underlying it.

RESULTS
Based on the data processing in a statistically descriptive manner, respondents were asked, "How often do you see the bucin phenomenon in Indonesian society?" The assessment is based on the subjective assessment of respondents based on the phenomena they see. Then from this assessment, it was found that the bucin phenomenon in Indonesia has occurred very often (59.1%). From the question "Have you experienced bucin yourself?" most respondents (78.3%) claimed to have experienced bucin.
In the results of the chi-square test between demographic data (factor) and bucin experience, it was found that age group (p-value = 0.143 (>0.05), gender (p-value = 0.668 (>0.05), and religion (p-value = 0.191 (>0.05)) did not have a significant relationship to predict bucin experience as aforementioned. Meanwhile, the educational background group (p-value = 0.012 (<0.05), length of relationship (p-value = 0.001 (<0.05)), and rating relational influences (p-value = 0.007 (<0.05)) were shown to be predictors of bucin behavior, so it was stated that this was a prediction for a person's tendency to do bucin.  Behavioral Impact Negative Impacts 60.5 Positive Impacts 39.5

Theme 1: Causative Factors
Starting with the question, "Tell me why the above (bucin behavior) can happen?". Data processing in this study found 407 data points on bucin motivation with M = 1.80 and SD = 1.039. Researchers found the causative factors behind bucin behavior are a selffulfilling prophecy, relationship resilience, attachment issues, and emotional intelligence.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The overall data findings found that self-fulfilling prophecy dominates (57.7%) as a factor causing someone to do bucin. The amount of expectations individuals create during dating makes them bucin; this usually happens in the early phase of dating, where expectations are created and realized through bucin behaviors so that they consistently become habits during the relationship. With this self-fulfilling prophecy, they try to build attachment in their relationship. The categories of this subtheme are expectations for 1) self-projection, motivated by feelings that they are already too affectionate and in love with their partner and accompanied by the passionate intensity of love; 2) relationships, having expectations placed on the relationship because they have become bucin from the beginning so that they eventually have a habit together and even penetrate a character that is present in the individual; 3) a partner, a bucin person is found to have expectations of positive and even equal retaliation for what they do; and 4) social environment projection, the presence of expectations derived from the social environment that also conducts bucin as a treatment to the couple.
"In my case, it is because it was the first time I dated." (AR, Male) "Because I want to be noticed by him." (SL, Female)

Relationship Resilience
The persistence of the relationship that they live in becomes a motivation for why individuals do bucin, and this occurs as a middle phase in maintaining the relationship by acting bucin, which is then a form of the commitment undertaken, namely 1) morally, bucin is done to fulfill the moral responsibility that their partner is a valuable person; 2) personal, being bucin is a natural thing, and this desire comes from within oneself consciously; and 3) lack of alternatives, alternatives outside their relationship tend not to exist.
"Maybe it is because he is the only one who is there if there is anything wrong with me. Like when I am sad or happy, he is the only one who accompanies me." (AL, Female) "A high sense of responsibility and she is precious, so she must be taken care of." (BD, Male)

Attachment Issues
Next is the presence of attachment issues that come from each person as a bucin motivation, such as fear of abandonment or extraordinary fear of the end of the relationship, so that it always avoids conflict in relationships, loneliness, and a high sense of ownership of the partner.
"Afraid of breaking up, because I do not like being alone, I do not like being lonely." (H, Female)

Emotional Intelligence
Next is emotional intelligence, which, in this finding, found the emergence of aspects of self-regulation and negative self-concept that motivate individuals. For aspects of self-regulation, this finding refers to a person's level of maturity in regulating everything that happens to them. A person's indiscipline in carrying out the priority scale in their daily life eventually makes them only focus on their partner and become bucin. The next aspect is self-concept; self-confidence management before a relationship is closely related to initiating this bucin behavior. There are beliefs in inadequacy, uselessness, doubts about one's abilities, and shortcomings experienced by a bucin, so they always rely on their partner's presence. In this case, it is also because the couple always underestimates the actions of the bucin individual. Then the bucin individual gets used to this state, so they become dependent, and their independence decreases.
"This can happen because of a person's maturity level in determining the priority scale in life. If you want to build a love relationship, it should be done with a neat and consistent priority framework that must be carried out." (RN, Male) "Bucin behavior, in my view, is because a person considers himself/herself insecure, so they consider other people they like or love as role models or as extraordinary people in their eyes. Like excessive adoration for others." (WR, Male)

Theme 2: Behavior Patterns
Starting with the question, "Tell or name (at least 3) the forms of behavior you consider bucin", researchers traced the behavioral indicators of bucin based on the respondents' experiences. With all these respondents, data was found on the behavior of bucin, as many as 1190 with M = 2.43 and SD = 0.610, while some things that happen to the behavior of a person who experiences bucin have the following dimensions, namely, impression management, love addiction, and the manifestation of love.

Manifestations of Love
The thing that most often appears in the behavior of bucin is the manifestation of the love they feel in their romantic relationships. These forms of manifestation have factors in the form of love applied to relationships that are: 1) committed, shown in the amount of investment given and relationships that have long-term goals (long-term orientation); 2) intimacy, a relationship that acts as a support system; and 3) enthusiasm, the fulfillment of a partner's sexual needs, obsessions, and positive experiences when together with a partner. Regarding the category of sexual fulfillment, in searching with the interview method, researchers found that the antecedent of this is as a reward where there is consent to each other, which is stated in the following interview excerpt.
Another antecedent behind this behavior is as a form of seriousness in relationships, and here is an excerpt from the interview.
"Taking your partner to 90% of events, such as family events." (MD, Female) "Hj bj kiss. You know right..." (meaning: handjob, blowjob) (MR, Female) "Always support whatever the choice is, but if there is a mistake, do not forget to straighten it out." (AT, Male)

Love Addiction
Furthermore, bucin behavior patterns were also detected as indicators of love addiction (43.5%), with factors in which the emergence of behavior: 1) withdrawal from family and peers; 2) life impairment in the form of maladaptive behavior, in which they cover up all mistakes and defend their partner always to look excellent, and external obstacles in which they lose control of the decisions that will be made regarding their future; 3) partner behavior control, with covert and overt categories in which both are intended to have control over the partner through some form of manipulation, teaching, punishment, or guilt; 4) negative conflict management, where every conflict does not meet with a solution but suppresses the problem itself by always forgiving and giving in and then pretending it never existed.

"My ex-boyfriend is a manipulative type of person, likes to use the excuse of being too affectionate as a tool so that I want to comply with what he wants, even though I have to lie to my parents and friends, he is good at
making me feel sorry for him, so I want to give him money, and I become willing to take the blame when there is a dispute in the relationship." (MB, Female) "Defending him in front of friends even though he is wrong" (TH, Female)

Impression Management
Those who are bucin also carry out impression management, which is carried out to control impressions that come from outside parties about themselves (self-presentation) to their partners, as well as public display affection, which is done for the sake of social environment impressions by publishing relationships on various social media.
"Because when I meet my partner, I want him to see me as beautiful and maybe to make me confident too because at that time I was not confident with my body shape." (AY, Female) "Upload all activities with my partner to social media." (US, Female)

Theme 3: The Impact of Bucin Behavior
Obtained from the question, "Tell me what are the effects resulting from bucin?" the researchers examined and divided into two poles, namely positive and negative, with the overall M = 1.61 and SD = 0.490. A total of 289 responses were obtained about the impact of bucin; as many as 111 responses (35%) stated that bucin had a positive impact that was felt to provide positive experiences in romantic relationships and lead them to have positive self-esteem. Then the remaining 178 responses stated that bucin has a dominating negative impact (65%) in the form of impaired psychological and biological functioning as an individual, negative self-esteem, cognitive dissonance, and the following negative impact becomes the root of individual problems related to external parties.

Positive Impact
This positive impact will discuss 1) satisfaction level, where they talk about happiness obtained from everything done for their partner, then the output obtained for a bucin is the fulfillment of satisfaction in relationships; and 2) positive self-esteem increase, a bucin person will also develop himself and appreciate himself more with the help of a supportive partner.
"The main thing is that I feel proud of myself because, in some cases, I crossed the line when I wanted to make my boyfriend happy (i.e., I learned to cook so I can provide for him), I feel happier, of course when he appreciates my efforts and gifts, and lastly I feel more affectionate and loved by my boyfriend. It sounds cliche, but being 'bucin' is not always bad. I feel like my life is more colorful than ever." (SL, Female)

Negative Impact
Bucin also has a negative impact. The negative components of this are: 1) negative self-esteem, the person who is bucin in their relationship becomes self-neglecting and reduces the time for self-care, even as if losing themselves coupled with the appearance of feelings of uselessness because they cannot fulfill the partner's wishes; 2) cognitive dissonance, the presence of two opposite poles of belief, feeling ignorant but continuing to live the relationship that feels wrong; 3) psychological disorders, relationships that are lived into daily stressors that must be faced in the form of insomnia, depression, stress, anxiety, sadness, feelings that become more sensitive, disappointment, heartache, and even the tendency to self-harm; 4) biological disorders, feeling like fever, fatigue, and decreased health conditions. "Loss of hope to move on, prolonged upset and possibly even suicidal ideation if you lose a partner." (GD, Male) "Sometimes I am happy, but sometimes I feel stupid and blame myself; how can I love someone too much, like being depressed too, especially if I get to the wrong person." (LSS, Female)

DISCUSSION
Together with the results obtained, more than 70% of respondents to this study have or are experiencing bucin. It proves that this phenomenon does occur a lot and can be a concern, especially from the psychological side. The quantitative results in this study stated that the level of education proved to be one of the factors that led to the tendency of individuals to become bucin. It is known that high school age has a characteristic relationship with solid emotional bonds (Santrock, 2012), which further refers to emotional disclosure by showing a willingness to be a provider of emotional support and the ability to be trusted in their partners (Jorgensen-Wells et al., 2021). When individuals have partners who can provide enough emotional support, they are prone to bucin. While at a higher age level, namely entering early adulthood according to their stage of development, they begin to be self-focused and begin to neglect social obligations, perform tasks, and commit to others so that they have significant autonomy in managing their own lives, not leaving it to others (Santrock, 2012;Mustafa., 2016).
Furthermore, in this study, it was proven quantitatively and qualitatively that they did bucin because they were influenced by the friendship circle, which made bucin a trend used as a successful tip for dating relationships. Then, as mentioned (Gardner & Steinberg, 2005), the friendship circle plays an essential role in influencing risky adolescent behavior, where excessive romantic behavior will lead to sexual behavior due to peer influence (Suleiman &;Deardorff, 2015).
Furthermore, sexual attraction to a partner is experienced by a bucin person when the context serves the sexual needs of the partner. With this issue, Espinosa-Hernández et al. (2020) also recognize that it is important to understand aspects of romantic relationships related to sexual behavior to see them from an adverse impacts perspective and consider the positive side. Then this study answered that this was considered a positive reward and a symbol of the seriousness of individuals who are bucin in their relationship.
Another positive side is that individuals who experience bucin can manifest warm love towards a partner. It has the potential to help people with lower self-esteem so that the output obtained is a long-term and satisfying relationship (Luerssen et al., 2017). We may view the manifestation of love positively in the context of bucin. It turns out that this phenomenon also shows symptoms of love addiction, a form of romance considered unhealthy and abnormal (Rasouli et al., 2019). Furthermore, in previous findings, obsessive love did not have altruistic ideas that affected the well-being of others, especially their partners (Hegi &;Bergner, 2010). In this finding, it was found that the factors that emerged followed the findings McMahon, 2021) regarding the criteria for this addiction, namely the disruption of individual life functions (life impairment). This factor has criteria that also occur in bucin individuals: excessive reliance or withdrawal, external and internal problems, and maladaptive behavior.
Then love addiction, which is not found according to the criteria of the original theory but is present in this bucin behavior, is the existence of partner behavior control and conflict management based on emotions. Partner behavior control refers to the quality of relationships, from permissive structures to enforcing strict rules to limit partner behavior (Sagkal et al., 2021). Limiting or controlling this behavior is one of the signs of psychological abuse in romantic relationships (Jordan et al., 2010). This finding also found that conflict management used in bucin relationships is primarily emotional coping, which does not solve problems but only represses emotions felt in themselves.
The last thing revealed in bucin behavior is impression management, both internally (self-presentation), namely to their partner, and externally (public display of affection), which is in the form of validation to the public. Couples who publicize their relationship on social media are instead motivated and use it to protect and maintain the stability of their relationship (Krueger &;Forest, 2020;Sabiniewicz et al, 2017).
Turning to the factors that cause bucin, the desire to have an ongoing relationship by bucin individuals is also shown by the presence of future orientation with a partner; this raises the motivation to maintain the relationship into the future Agnew, 2001). Furthermore, this self-fulfilling prophecy is a form of expectation of reciprocity for desire and attention to the relationship (Lemay &;Wolf, 2016).
Attachment issues are present as factors that cause individuals to become bucin, while these factors suggest a fear of abandonment, loneliness, and ownership. Fear of abandonment in this study is intended by the presence of excessive fear of losing their partner so that they become bucin and this is associated with individuals who have difficulty building trust and meeting the needs of belongingness to their partners Stanton, 2019;Fitzpatrick & Lafontaine, 2017;Liu et al, 2012).
Next is the negative impact of bucin behavior, namely the many experiences of psychological distress or psychological pressure in individuals. Conflict in the form of a clash between expectations and the reality of the relationship is then adapted into personal pressure. It is then in line with what has been found in the research of Sagkal et al., (2021) that conflict in non-marital romantic relationships predicts psychological distress, but after conflict control. In connection with these findings, conflict management used in bucin relationships is primarily emotional coping, which does not solve problems but only represses emotions felt.
Overall, it is known that self-esteem is the primary variable that causes differences in individual success in relationships. Individuals with good self-esteem stability lead to positive relationships, namely building and deepening emotional relationships with partners (Zeigler-Hill et al., 2015).

CONCLUSION
This study showed that 78.3% of respondents had experienced bucin, then tried to uncover bucin by exploring it by dividing it into the following themes: behavior patterns, causes, and impacts. As for this finding, bucin behavior patterns are manifestations of love for their partners, impression management, and lead to indications of love addiction. Then it was also found that the cause was maintaining relationships, attachment issues, and the fulfillment of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Furthermore, this bucin phenomenon has more negative than positive impacts.
It is realized that building positive self-esteem in individuals when undergoing relationships is essential. It helps them value themselves as valuable to avoid overdepend on their partner. Furthermore, there is also expected to be further education on strengthening self-esteem for Indonesian adolescents who have begun recognizing romantic relationships. Not only that but seeing from the behavior patterns of individuals who are willing to meet the sexual needs of their partners while dating are not reasonable, so the implications of this research also require supervision from parents for their children who are dating.