Internet, family communication, friendships, and loneliness: The ‘Instant Message’ generation

(project 014-43-716)

Research problem

At present, more than 75% of Dutch children have access to the Internet. Particularly due to recent technologies, such as instant messaging and chat, children’s access and use far exceeds that of adults. What are the consequences of these rapid media developments for the social involvement and personal well-being of children? Although there is much speculation about the social consequences of the Internet, empirical research to investigate the validity of most of these claims is sparse. The aim of the proposed project is to fill this gap. The project consists of a three-year panel study, focusing on the longitudinal impact of the Internet on family communication, social involvement, and personal well-being. Children's Internet use will be measured through monitoring software, to be installed in 150 Dutch families. Social involvement, family communication, and personal well-being will be investigated by means of standard survey measures as well as digital experience-sampling methods.

Scientific relevance

Although there is much speculation about the social consequences of the Internet, empirical research to investigate the validity of most of these claims is sparse. This is remarkable because relations are fundamental to a healthy development of children. Studies have shown that close friendships in childhood and adolescence contribute to self-esteem and personal well-being, whereas the lack of these can lead to depression and negative self-views. Surveys among adolescents have shown that they regularly form friendships on the Internet. However, such survey results do not allow for the inference that the Internet stimulates the social adjustment of children and adolescents. To draw this conclusion, one needs to know more about the impact of the Internet on the quality of children's offline social relationships.

Recent studies investigating the impact of the Internet on adolescents' offline relationships have yielded mixed results and demonstrated that adolescents’ use of the Internet resulted in increased levels of depression and reductions in family communication and social involvement. Curiously enough, other studies, by the same authors and based on the same sample, yielded opposite results. In considering these results, two concerns should be noted. First, the variables used in these studies were all uni-dimensional constructs. However, it is widely understood that the way in which a person is affected by a medium depends on that person’s reasons for using that medium. Investigating linear relationships between Internet exposure and time spent with family members or neighbors masks important differentiations in the uses and effects of Internet. The failure to take the quality of offline interaction into account might explain the curious discrepancy between the studies. Second, the studies relied on global survey measures. Other research suggest that it is prerequisite in future research to explore the role of moderator variables (e.g., introverts vs. extraverts; addicted vs. regular Internet users) in the relationship between Internet, social involvement, and personal well-being.

This project extends the previous studies in three respects. First, we will explore at least two research methodologies that have not previously been used among children: digital monitoring and experience sampling. By the end of 2002, ASCoR Media lab will have developed tools that enable Internet-based survey research as well as Internet based experience-sampling methods. Second, we will treat Internet use, family interactions, and social involvement as multi-dimensional constructs. We will use both quantitative and qualitative measures of Internet use and family communication, social involvement and psychological well-being. To investigate the social relations of children and adolescents, we will draw on existing theories on the nature of friendships and social relationships in childhood in order to identify different types of online and offline relations that children develop and maintain. We will then investigate how these relations differ and overlap, and advance and test new theories about online social interactions and relationships. Finally, our project will involve both children (8-12-year) and adolescents (13-17-year). None of the earlier studies have included school-aged children. However, like adolescents, an increasing number of children use the Internet for communication and social interaction. Include both children and adolescents will allow us to investigate developmental differences in the uses and social consequences of different Internet technologies.

Social and policy relevance

Most research into children and the Internet has been conducted by market researchers. Because of the high costs of the research reports that these market researchers produce, their findings are often not available, neither to the academic world nor to the average parent and educator. There is a rapidly growing need for empirically based knowledge on the consequences of the Internet for family and interpersonal relations, not only among academics, but also among policy makers, parents and educators. The aim of the proposed project is to satisfy this need.

Methodology and research design

The research involves a three-year panel study. A longitudinal design is preeminently qualified to trace potential differences in Internet uses and effects as the medium further develops. It also provides the opportunity to assess the causal direction of the relationships between Internet use and measures of social involvement and well-being. At the outset of the study, we will sample 150 families willing to participate in a three-wave panel study. Based on our earlier experiences, we know that parents are often willing to cooperate in a project that investigates their children's media use. To stimulate the collaboration of the children and adolescents, we will provide financial incentives commensurate with their workload. We will collect survey and diary data for three weeks at three successive years.

At the outset of the study we will install monitoring software. By this we are able to log all websites visited, windows viewed, applications run, Internet connections made, chat conversations, and it can even capture screenshots of the user’s activities. At the end of 2002, ASCoR Media lab will provide us with tools to create and process websurveys and digital diary data. During data waves in three subsequent years, the parent and child respondents will be contacted on a daily basis by email or SMS messages to remind them to complete their daily survey items and diary logs.

The independent variable, Internet use, will be investigated by means of the monitoring software, which will track the time that each family member spends online as well as the type of applications used. In addition, we will administer self-report measures on participant’s frequency of Internet use, their motives for using different Internet applications, and their levels of addiction to different Internet technologies. As far as the dependent variables are concerned, children’s social involvement and psychological well-being, we will use recognized standard survey measures. In addition, we will create experience-sampling measures to investigate psychological well-being and also adapt measures which qualify ties of social interactions. By this similarities and differences between online and offline social interactions are investigated.

Research

• Prof.dr. Patti M. Valkenburg
• Drs. M. Antheunis
• The Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR); University of Amsterdam.

Results

Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (in press) . Internet communication and its relationship towellbeing: Identifying some underlying mechanisms. Media Psychology.

Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (in press) . Individual differences in perceptions of Internet communication. European Journal of Communication

Peter, J., Valkenburg, P. M., & Schouten, A.P. (2005) . Developing a model of adolescents’ friendship formation on the Internet. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8, 423-430.

Valkenburg, P.M., & Peter, J. (2005, May) . Online communication and adolescents’ closeness to friends. Paper to be presented at the 55th annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), New York.

Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2005, August) . Internet Communication and its Relationship to Well-Being: Identifying Some Underlying Mechanisms. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), San Antonio, TX, USA.