Preadolescents' and adolescents' online communication and their closeness to friends.

Abstract

The 1st goal of this study was to investigate how online communication is related to the closeness of existing friendships. Drawing from a sample of 794 preadolescents and adolescents, the authors found that online communication was positively related to the closeness of friendships. However, this effect held only for respondents who primarily communicated online with existing friends and not for those who mainly talked with strangers. The 2nd goal was to refine 2 opposing hypotheses, the rich-get-richer and the social compensation hypotheses. Consistent with the rich-get-richer hypothesis, socially anxious respondents communicated online less often than did nonsocially anxious respondents. However, socially anxious respondents perceived the Internet as more valuable for intimate self-disclosure than did nonsocially anxious respondents, and this perception in turn led to more online communication. This result is consistent with the social compensation hypothesis. Online communication and closeness to friends increased with age. There was a curvilinear relationship between age and perceived value of the Internet for intimate self-disclosure, such that 15-year-olds were at the epitome of online self-disclosure. Girls were closer to friends and more socially anxious than were boys.

The relationship between social network usage and some personality traits

“…The alone, depressive, and anxious individuals were found to feel themselves less bounded in Internet, which they mainly use for emotional support, meeting with new people, and communicating with others. Moreover, these individuals generally prefer online communication and find the Internet communication to be sincerer and more supportive (Valkenburg and Peter, 2007). In this study, the findings differing from those of others were obtained.…”

“…Most of the adolescents use the Internet for communicating with their friends (Gross, 2004). Young individuals use Internet also for communicating with strangers (Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, 2008;Valkenburg and Peter, 2007). Establishing with strangers may allow the adolescent to experience the sense of belonging.…”

Peer Relationships in Adolescence

“…Yet again, the potential anonymity of the Internet could make it an ideal venue for aggressive behaviors; young people could engage in relational aggression toward specific peers with little worry that they will be caught and somehow punished for their behavior. Valkenburg and Peter ( 2007 ) attempted to address some of these concerns in a survey of how a sample of Dutch youth aged 10 -16 used the Internet. They found an association between Internet use and closeness to peers.…”

Media and Youth Development: An Overview of Issues, Theory, and Research

“…Those who played games had higher levels of self-esteem, lower levels of substance use, were more involved with school, and had closer family relationships than those who did not play games. In a study conducted on Dutch youth (Valkenburg, & Peter, 2007), online communication was positively associated with reported closeness of friendships. Similarly, Ohannessian (2009) found that media use (playing video games and watching television) served as a protective factor for at-risk youth, decreasing levels of anxiety.…”