Online social support for young people: Does it recapitulate in-person social support; can it help?

Abstract

As social media websites have grown in popularity, public concern about online victimization has grown as well; however, much less attention has focused on the possible beneficial effects of online social networks. If theory and research about in-person social networks pertain, then online social relationships may represent an important modern source of or vehicle for support. In a study of 231 undergraduates, three major findings emerged: (1) for people with weaker in-person social support, social media sites provide a source of social support that is less redundant of the social support they receive in person; (2) in ways that were not redundant of each other, both online and in-person social support were associated with lower levels of depression-related thoughts and feelings, and (3) the beneficial effects of online social support (like in-person social support) offset some of the adverse effects of peer victimization. The study suggests that augmenting social relations via strategic use of social media can enhance young people’s social support systems in beneficial ways.

How Does Social Capital Associate With Being a Victim of Online Hate? Survey Evidence From the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Finland

“…The prominence of new social technology (Web 2.0) has formed so-called networked publics (boyd, 2014) that have opened possibilities for social relations and group-based identifications (boyd, 2011;boyd & Ellison, 2008;Davidson & Martelozzo, 2013). These communities involve the intersections of people, technology, and social practices (boyd, 2011, 2014) and are increasingly important contexts of social networking and identity building, particularly for younger online users and marginalized individuals (Allen, Szwedo, & Mikami, 2012;Cole, Nick, Zelkowitz, Roeder, & Spinelli, 2017;Lehdonvirta & R€ as€ anen, 2011;Livingstone et al, 2011;Panek, Nardis, & Konrath, 2013;Wang & Stefanone, 2013). Online communities based on shared interests and identities foster engagement and social support (Walther & Jang, 2012).…”

“…Online social capital is connected to offline social capital and has a positive association with offline civic participation and engagement (Ellison et al, 2007;Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009;Yoder & Stutzman, 2011;Zhang & Leung, 2015). However, even though offline and online social capital tend to overlap, people also have social networks and social resources online that are independent from offline ones (Cole et al, 2017;Kirsty, 2011). In online social networks, or online communities, members with high social capital often strongly engage in and enjoy social activities (Barker, Dozier, Weiss, & Borden, 2015;Lin & Chen, 2012;Mikal et al, 2016;Walther & Jang, 2012;Yen, 2016).…”

Modeling social support scores using phone use patterns

“…On a more granular level, the frequency of communication and access to strong and weak ties in a network has also been connected to social support (Oh et al, 2013). Such features have been operationalized over online social networks (Cole et al, 2017) and recently over phone networks in different contexts (Quan-Haase et al, 2015). At an empirical level, multiple recent efforts have quantified different aspects of individual behavior based on phone metadata with a goal to identify personal traits and well-being (de Montjoye et al, 2013;Singh & Ghosh, 2017).…”

“…People use online spaces to discuss problems or obtain information that is helpful when coping with particular stressors. Social media sites may fulfill a need for social belongingness, distract people from various stressors, or offer micro-boosts to self-esteem by being "friended," "liked," or "followed" by others (Cole, Nick, Zelkowitz, Roeder, & Spinelli, 2017). Previous studies from several different disciplines including communication, psychology and sociology suggest that the Internet offers opportunities to exchange information and consolation with online associates (Salehan & Negahban, 2013;Walther & Boyd, 2002) and fosters meaningful relationships (Parks & Floyd, 1996).…”

Broken Tribe: The importance of social connection in depression

“…Other methods of encouraging social connection include multigenerational living, shared living spaces between university students and seniors, maintaining good health, attending events in an area of interest, interpersonal therapy and online social support. 14,[30][31][32][33][34]…”