PMID- 20557247
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20100927
LR  - 20220321
IS  - 2152-2723 (Electronic)
IS  - 2152-2715 (Linking)
VI  - 13
IP  - 3
DP  - 2010 Jun
TI  - The relationship of loneliness and social anxiety with children's and 
      adolescents' online communication.
PG  - 279-85
AB  - Children and adolescents now communicate online to form and/or maintain 
      relationships with friends, family, and strangers. Relationships in "real life" 
      are important for children's and adolescents' psychosocial development; however, 
      they can be difficult for those who experience feelings of loneliness and/or 
      social anxiety. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in usage of 
      online communication patterns between children and adolescents with and without 
      self-reported loneliness and social anxiety. Six hundred twenty-six students ages 
      10 to 16 years completed a survey on the amount of time they spent communicating 
      online, the topics they discussed, the partners they engaged with, and their 
      purposes for communicating over the Internet. Participants were administered a 
      shortened version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale and an abbreviated subscale of the 
      Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A). Additionally, age and gender 
      differences in usage of the online communication patterns were examined across 
      the entire sample. Findings revealed that children and adolescents who 
      self-reported being lonely communicated online significantly more frequently 
      about personal and intimate topics than did those who did not self-report being 
      lonely. The former were motivated to use online communication significantly more 
      frequently to compensate for their weaker social skills to meet new people. 
      Results suggest that Internet usage allows them to fulfill critical needs of 
      social interactions, self-disclosure, and identity exploration. Future research, 
      however, should explore whether or not the benefits derived from online 
      communication may also facilitate lonely children's and adolescents' offline 
      social relationships.
FAU - Bonetti, Luigi
AU  - Bonetti L
AD  - School of Learning and Professional Studies, Queensland University of Technology, 
      Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
FAU - Campbell, Marilyn Anne
AU  - Campbell MA
FAU - Gilmore, Linda
AU  - Gilmore L
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw
JT  - Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking
JID - 101528721
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adolescent Behavior
MH  - Anxiety Disorders/*psychology
MH  - Child
MH  - Child Behavior
MH  - *Communication
MH  - Female
MH  - Friends/psychology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Internet/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - *Interpersonal Relations
MH  - Loneliness/*psychology
MH  - Male
MH  - Phobic Disorders/psychology
MH  - Psychology, Adolescent
MH  - Psychology, Child
MH  - Social Desirability
MH  - Social Perception
EDAT- 2010/06/19 06:00
MHDA- 2010/09/29 06:00
CRDT- 2010/06/19 06:00
PHST- 2010/06/19 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2010/06/19 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2010/09/29 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1089/cyber.2009.0215 [pii]
AID - 10.1089/cyber.2009.0215 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2010 Jun;13(3):279-85. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2009.0215.