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The Relationship Between Adolescent Identity Formation and Social Network Site Use

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The Relationship Between Adolescent Identity Formation and Social Network Site Use View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship Repository THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADOLESCENT IDENTITY FORMATION AND SOCIAL NETWORK SITE USE BY KRISTIN L. DROGOS DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2015 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Barbara J. Wilson, Chair Professor John Caughlin Professor David Tewksbury Professor Kristen Harrison, University of Michigan Abstract A majority of American adolescents use social network sites. Many adolescents access these sites multiple times a day. On these sites, adolescents engage in self-presentation by creating and managing personal profiles and by posting updates and photos. Past research has explored how much information teens share via social network sites and what motivations are behind such acts of online self-presentation. Indeed, adolescents are comfortable disclosing a fair amount of personal information online. Arguably, there are developmental reasons for adolescents’ heavy use of social network sites. Given that exploration of the self is the primary “work” of adolescence (Erikson, 1968), it stands to reason that teens’ attraction to social network sites may be related to the development of identity and self-concept. The purpose of the present dissertation is to examine the relationship between use of social network sites and adolescent identity and self-concept development. Using a mixed- method approach, two studies were conducted to explore this phenomenon. The first study consisted of a survey of 227 adolescents that investigated how self-reported patterns of Facebook use were related to identity status and self-concept. The second study was a content analysis of the actual Facebook profiles of 204 of the participants from Study 1, so that Facebook behaviors could be observed and analyzed. The results from Study 2 were used to corroborate and substantiate relationships revealed in Study 1. Both Study 1 and Study 2 revealed that adolescents who used Facebook more often, particularly by actively engaging with the site, were more likely to have an advanced identity compared to those who used the site less often. The findings are consistent with the idea that social media may offer teens a space to effectively work out their identities. Of course, it is also possible that teens with more advanced identities are drawn to social media. Furthermore, Study ii 1 found that the relationship between time spent on Facebook and identity status was moderated by offline parent-adolescent communication. Specifically, among those teens who had supportive communication with parents, there was a strong relationship between amount of time spent on Facebook and advanced identity status. In contrast, among teens with less supportive parent relationships, there was no relationship between time spent on Facebook and identity status. In terms of aspects of the self-concept, both Study 1 and Study 2 revealed a negative relationship between Facebook use and the degree of complexity of the self. Consistent with the idea that Facebook may stylize or constrain the expression of the self, adolescents who used the site more often had lower complexity than did those who used the site less often. Study 1 also found a relationship between adolescent self-concept and the size of an adolescent’s Facebook network. Specifically adolescents with larger and more diverse Facebook friend networks had higher self-concept clarity than did adolescents with smaller, less diverse Facebook networks. Finally, Study 1 found a relationship between engaging particular types of Facebook activities and adolescent self-concept. Adolescents who posted more status updates tended to have more complex self-concepts than did their peers who posted less status updates and adolescents who posted more photos had clearer self-concepts than did those who posted less photos. Finally, both studies documented that feedback received on Facebook was related to self- esteem. As predicted, adolescents who received more negative feedback from friends reported lower self-esteem than did those who received less negative feedback. The theoretical implications of the findings for Study 1 and Study 2 are discussed. iii Acknowledgements I am forever grateful to the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois for investing in my research and teaching. The faculty, staff, graduate students, undergraduate students at the University have left an indelible mark on me as a person and a scholar. Hail to the Orange! I owe the debt of my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Barbara J. Wilson. This dissertation would not have been possible without your generosity. Barb, you have remained patient through this process, and for that I am deeply appreciative. I am a better scholar, colleague, and teacher because of your influence. I strive to live up to the example you set for me. I am forever appreciative of the guidance provided to me by my all-star doctoral committee members. John Caughlin, Kristen Harrison, and David Tewksbury, thank you for sharing your keen insight and whip-smart analysis of this project. My dissertation is better for it. Moreover, I am a better researcher for it. I was lucky to work with the faculty, staff, and students at Urbana High School and Hononegah Community High School. Your willing enthusiasm to participate in this project made this dissertation possible. The office staff in the Department Communication are one in a million. My dissertation would not have been possible without their help. Special thanks to Amy Holland for helping me with the financial aspects of this project, and to Mary Strum and Barbara Hall for always being supportive and helpful. In addition to the office staff, I must also thank three special undergraduate students: Noelle Freebeck, Nicole Mathes, and Zoe Liu. We spent too many hours in that crowded office together, but I am thankful for it. Not only were you coders for this dissertation, but you also taught me about managing research projects. iv I’d also like to thank Charles South. I am lucky to have worked with such a talented statistician. There are people in this world who experience something so similar to you, that you are forever bound together in friendship. To my fellow Illini graduate students and life-long friends, thank you for being my cheerleader when I was unsure, thank you for being the smartest people I know, and thank you for the countless laughs. Several friends deserve special recognition. Brad Bond, there are literally no words. Megan Haselschwerdt, Colleen Gibbons, and Vanja Lazarevic Stojkovic, you inspire me every day to keep doing my best work. Veronica Hefner, Laura Miller, and Cortney Moriarty, you helped pave the path for me, and I am forever grateful, LUMU. To the LaVoie, Delaney, Muñoz-Nájar, Wittenauer-Borelos, and Robinett families, thank you for providing a temporary roof over my head and permanent smile on my face. My entire journey to this point would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my family. To my parents Ric and Lin, thank you for instilling in me the curiosity and confidence to continually question and research this big, beautiful world. To the other Dr. Drogos, Lauren thank you for knowing what this process is like and not laughing too hard at me during midnight data analysis sessions when I couldn’t tell up from down. And to Dave, thank you for support and helping to keep me grounded. Finally, to my love, Bobby. You chased me down a hallway in the Armory after our first class together and the rest is history. You have witnessed endless anxiety attacks throughout this process. Your steadfast confidence in me cannot be thanked enough. Thank you. I love you. And to the best writing partner a girl could ask for, Oskee Bow Wow, mutt extraordinaire, your company will forever warm my heart. v Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................................x Chapter 1 Introduction..................................................................................................................1 Adolescent Use of Social Network Sites ...........................................................................2 Adolescence and Identity ...................................................................................................8 The Self-Concept ..............................................................................................................20 Chapter 2 Method ........................................................................................................................41 Study 1: The Survey.........................................................................................................44 Study 2: The Content Analysis .......................................................................................51 Chapter 3 Results Study 1 ...........................................................................................................62 Results Study 2 .................................................................................................................74 Chapter 4 Discussion
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