Loneliness and Facebook motives in adolescence: A longitudinal inquiry into directionality of effect

Abstract

The increasing popularity of Facebook among adolescents has stimulated research to investigate the relationship between Facebook use and loneliness, which is particularly prevalent in adolescence. The aim of the present study was to improve our understanding of the relationship between Facebook use and loneliness. Specifically, we examined how Facebook motives and two relationship‐specific forms of adolescent loneliness are associated longitudinally. Cross‐lagged analysis based on data from 256 adolescents (64% girls, Mage = 15.88 years) revealed that peer‐related loneliness was related over time to using Facebook for social skills compensation, reducing feelings of loneliness, and having interpersonal contact. Facebook use for making new friends reduced peer‐related loneliness over time, whereas Facebook use for social skills compensation increased peer‐related loneliness over time. Hence, depending on adolescents' Facebook motives, either the displacement or the stimulation hypothesis is supported. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Loneliness and Health Risk Behaviors Among ASEAN Adolescents

“…The association between loneliness and sexual activity may be related to one way of coping with the negative effects of loneliness by relating physically with others (2). The finding of the association between loneliness and sedentary leisure time behaviour may be explained by an increased use of social media such that loneliness was related over time to using the Facebook for social skills compensation, reducing feelings of loneliness, and having interpersonal contact (24). The exact mechanisms explaining the relationship between loneliness and health risk behaviours are not clear.…”

The Lonelier, the More Conservative? A Research about Loneliness and Risky Decision-Making

“…In other word, they are more concerned to prevent against being rejected, even at the risk of staying isolated. Moreover, a higher frequency of social network site usage among loners has been observed (Teppers, Luyckx, Klimstra, & Goossens, 2014;Cotten et al, 2013;Clayton, Osborne, Miller, & Oberle, 2013), supporting that comparing to face-to-face interactions which contain more indeterminacy, lonely people prefer online relationships for the sake of Y. Zhu, C. Wang Psychology minimizing anxiety. In addition, more recently, a few researchers caught sight of the passive attitude of loners in workplace and found employees who feel social supports unsatisfying are usually less engaged in work and produce poorer task performances due to the excessive worries (Snyder, 2014;Lam & Lau, 2012).…”

Possible Effects of Internet Use on Cognitive Development in Adolescence

“…Two recent studies suggest that the motivations for using social networking sites influence peer relationships, and the same motivations can lead to different outcomes for adolescents and young adults. In a longitudinal study of adolescents, use of social networking sites to compensate for weak social cognitive skills was associated with increased peer-related loneliness, but using social networking sites to form new relationships was associated with decreased peer-related loneliness (Teppers et al, 2014). In contrast, a study of American undergraduate students suggests that use of social networking sites has the potential to facilitate the transition from secondary school to college.…”

“…Indeed, communicating through digital means is still able to elicit feelings of bonding through the use of text-based cues like typed laughter (Sherman et al, 2013), and perhaps increased use social networking sites allows for more adept digital communication of social nuances, leading to increased overall social competence (Tsitsika et al, 2014;Yang & Brown, 2013). However, individual differences in baseline social cognitive skills might mediate the social benefits of Internet communication (Teppers et al, 2014). Finally, online evaluation from peers is likely to affect cognitive processes, although it is unclear how specific these effects are to the online environment (Silk et al, 2012;Somerville et al, 2013;Wolf et al, 2015).…”

“…One of the most common online activities for adolescents is communicating with others, primarily individuals known offline (Reich et al, 2012). Use of social networking sites is associated with greater feelings of peer affiliation (Spies Shapiro & Margolin, 2014), and adolescents who use social networking sites report less peer-related loneliness than non-users (Teppers, Luyckx, Klimstra, & Goossens, 2014), suggesting that adolescents who use social networking sites are developing the necessary social skills to have healthy peer relationships. Indeed, older adolescents who used social networking sites more than 2 hours a day reported higher social competence than older adolescents who used these sites less (Tsitsika et al, 2014).…”