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Subrahmanyam, K., Reich, S. M., Waechter, N., Espinoza, G. (2008). Online and offline social networks: Use of social networking sites by emerging adults. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 29,420–433.

Social networking sites (e.g., MySpace and Facebook) are popular online communication forms among adolescents and emerging adults. Yet little is known about young people's activities on these sites and how their networks of “friends” relate to their other online (e.g., instant messaging) and offline networks. In this study, college students responded, in person and online, to questions about their online activities and closest friends in three contexts: social networking sites, instant messaging, and face-to-face. Results showed that participants often used the Internet, especially social networking sites, to connect and reconnect with friends and family members. Hence, there was overlap between participants' online and offline networks. However, the overlap was imperfect; the pattern suggested that emerging adults may use different online contexts to strengthen different aspects of their offline connections. Information from this survey is relevant to concerns about young people's life online.

Authors

Subrahmanyam, Kaveri

I direct the Media and Language Lab at CSULA, where we investigate children’s and adolescents' interactions with digital media. I am interested in studying children's and teens' construction of their interactive/online culture and in studying how their participation in this...

Reich, Stephanie

Stephanie M. Reich earned her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. Dr. Reich's doctoral studies, funded by a training grant from the National Institute of Mental Health in children’s mental...

Espinoza, Guadalupe

Waechter, Natalia

Journal Articles, Monographs, Book Chapters Natalia Waechter (in preparation). Partizipation und Jugendkultur. Zum Widerstandscharakter von Jugendlichen am Beispiel von SkateboarderInnen und HausbesetzerInnen. In Axel Pohl, Andreas Walther, Barbara Stauber (Eds.), Jugend als Akteurin Sozialen...

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