Finding friends online Online activities by deaf students and their well-being Helen Blom, MSc Supervision by: Prof. dr. Harry Knoors Prof. dr. Marc Marschark dr. Mathijs Vervloed

Sharing activities together Friendships Importance for development Differences among countries Versus Sharing activities together Distinction between intimate ties and casual acquaintances

Friendships of deaf adolescents Difficulty making friends partly due to: Communication barriers (Bowen, 2008; Piso et al., 2009) Consequences: Acceptation of deaf adolescents (Kluwin et al., 2002) Lower number of friends compared to hearing peers (Piso et al., 2009) Lower friendship quality (Kouwenberg et al., in prep.) In general, lower well-being in deaf adolescents (Wolters et al., 2012)

Online friendships as a solution? Internet as a widely accepted alternative social environment Communication through Instant Messaging & Social network sites Internet communication positively related to friendship quality & well-being (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007)

Study Desjarlais & Willoughby, 2010 Relation computer use – friendship quality in two possible ways: Social compensation hypothesis Rich-get-richer theory In socially anxious persons:

Communication through reading and writing Study Barak & Sadovsky, 2008 The theoretical benefits of internet use by deaf adolescents: Communication through reading and writing Not necessarily revealing special health status Relief of psychological uneasiness and stress Intensive Internet-using deaf participants had similar levels of well-being compared to hearing adolescents, whereas hearing- impaired adolescents who used the Internet less had lower levels of well-being.

In deaf & hard of hearing (D/HH) and hearing adolescents Current study Compare the quality of online, mixed and offline friendships: In deaf & hard of hearing (D/HH) and hearing adolescents In the US and the Netherlands And measure the relation with well-being Expectations: Effect of both Social Compensation Theory & Rich-get-Richer hypothesis  but stronger in the Netherlands than in the USA Quality of the offline, mixed and online friendships all would be positively related to the adolescents’ well-being

113 D/HH & 109 hearing adolescents Method 222 participants, 18 – 25 years 113 D/HH & 109 hearing adolescents 100 Dutch & 122 American adolescents Online survey

Measures Variable Items Answer posibilities Frequency of online activities How many days per week are you online? How much time per day do you spend online? Do you have a SNS profile? How often do you visit your SNS profile? … days  … minutes  0 = no, 1 = yes 1 = all the time, 6 = less than once a week Motives for having a SNS profile Because all of my friends have accounts To stay in touch with friends I don’t see often To meet new people and to make new friends To fill up free time/ not be bored Do you have a friend… answer the questions below when thinking of this friend Online Mixed Offline Computer use in special context How often do you use the computer with this friend? (to communicate / play games) 0 = never, 3 = always Friendship quality I usually tell this person exactly how I feel I do not know this person very well Our communication ranges over a wide variety of topics 1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree Well-being Satisfaction with life In most ways my life is close to my ideal 1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree Loneliness I experience a general sense of emptiness 1 = yes!, 5 = no!

Results No differences in online frequency between the countries and hearing status Differences in motives to have a SNS profile: Americans > Dutch: ‘Because all of my friends have accounts.’ ‘To stay in touch with relatives and family.’ (D/HH group) ‘To voice my opinions on various topics.’ Within America Hearing > D/HH ‘Because all of my friends have accounts.’ D/HH > hearing ‘To meet new people’ Within Netherlands Hearing > D/HH ‘To comment on people’s profiles.’ D/HH > hearing ‘To stay in touch with relatives & family.’

Results

Results

Geographical distance? Discussion Americans and D/HH in the Netherlands more likely to have a SNS profile to stay in touch with relatives and family Geographical distance? Offline pc use with friend is positively related to the offline friendship quality Support for social compensation theory The offline friendship quality in Americans is negatively related to life satisfaction Role of quantity? The mixed friendship quality is positively related to well-being (higher life satisfaction, less loneliness) No benefits from online friendships… but no harm either!

Relation computer use & offline friendship quality: Social compensation hypothesis

Geographical distance? Discussion Americans and D/HH in the Netherlands more likely to have a SNS profile to stay in touch with relatives and family Geographical distance? Offline pc use with friend is positively related to the offline friendship quality Support for social compensation theory The offline friendship quality in Americans is negatively related to life satisfaction Role of quantity? The mixed friendship quality is positively related to well-being (higher life satisfaction, less loneliness) No benefits from online friendships… but no harm either!

Meet me at Booth 10 E-mail me: Questions / suggestions? Wednesday: 12.30-14.30 E-mail me: h.blom@pwo.ru.nl