04 Moor Man Final

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The American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal(TheAABSS Journal, 2011, Volume 15)

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THE UNIVERSITY FACEBOOKEXPERIENCE: THE ROLE OF SOCIALNETWORKING ON THE QUALITY OFINTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

~ Jessica Moorman and Anne Bowker

Carleton University

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

This study examined online social networking usage and its impact on relationshipquality and psychological adjustment. 541 Canadian undergraduate students completedquestionnaires focused on Facebook usage trends and the time spent in onlineinteractions. Students were initially categorized according to their time spend onFacebook and a subset (N=284) completed questionnaires designed to assess offline

(face to face) relationship quality, online interaction quality and content as well as levelsof self-esteem and depression. Results indicated that Facebook Usage was notsignificantly related to psychological adjustment. However, results also suggested asignificant positive relationship between friendship quality and self-esteem underconditions of low Facebook Usage. Furthermore, results indicate that it may not be thenumber of hours spent daily on Facebook, but the extent to which relationships aremediated online that predicts psychological adjustment. Relationship maintenance andcoping with relationship conflict online significantly and negatively predicted levels ofself-esteem.

Key Words: online community, psychological adjustment, online interaction,relationship quality

Introduction


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The extent to which online social networking sites impede or enhance the social

well-being of individuals in various aspects of their interpersonal lives has only begun

to be studied. The use of Facebook and similar social networking websites is a

relatively recent phenomenon (Hoffman, 2008), so the growth of Facebooks influence

on how users experience and mediate between offline and online contexts has not been

explored yet in great detail in the literature and certainly not to the extent to which

frequent usage of Facebook affects an individuals well-being. Much of the early

research on online communities assumed that individuals using these systems would be

connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group, permitting them to form

communities around shared interests, as opposed to shared physical geography

(Wellman et al., 1996). A hallmark of this early research is the presumption that when

online and offline social networks overlapped, the eventual result would be a face-to

face meeting (Wellman et al, 1996).

Lampe, Ellison and Steinfield (2007) suggest however, that Facebook is mostly

used to maintain or reinforce existing offline relationships, as opposed to establishing

new ones online. Characteristically, there is usually some common offline activity

among individuals who friend one another, such as a shared course or extracurricular

activity (Lampe et al., 2007). Boyd (2008) asserts that Facebook enables users to socialize

with friends even when unable to do so in offline situations; thereby inferring that users

may resort to online interaction over face-to-face connections to socialize among peers.

Online social networking site researchers have discovered a trending towards the use of


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Facebook for a)social searching, finding out information about offline contacts and b)

social browsing, the use of online networking sites to foster new connections,

sometimes with the aim of connecting offline afterwards (Joinson, 2008). A survey of

over 2,000 University students found suggestive evidence that the primary use for

Facebook was for social searching (Joinson, 2008); that is, to find out more information

about and make connections with people who they have met briefly offline, in class, or

through current friends (Joinson, 2008). But what does this say about the quality of a

friend in the basic online context and how does this impact fostering positive offline

relationships if people are turning to online networks for social connectedness?

Furthermore, the role of social networking and its effects on young adults has

largely been ignored (Fisher, Sollie, & Morrow, 1986) in terms of the psychological

implications and the impact on quality of relationships. Epstein (1983) suggests that

many researchers have concluded that social ties and interpersonal connections are

needed to foster and develop positive social skills and that reciprocal relations promote

positive mental health and psychological adjustment. In many ways social interaction

on the Internet resembles that of traditional, face-to-face modes of interaction and

enables further accessibility to close relations (Bargh, McKenna, & Fitzsimons, 2002);

prompting overall connectedness and well-being (Bargh et al., 2002). However, the

qualities of Internet communication and interaction, such as its greater anonymity, that

is known to produce greater intimacy and closeness online, are not necessarily

demonstrating equally consistent offline results among users (Bargh et al., 2002). The


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extent to which quality relationships are maintained or hindered as a result of online

social networking use is a factor which may have profound implications on the general

well-being of its users, and something that this study hopes to evaluate more

qualitatively.

The present study was a two-phase analytic study with three main objectives: 1.

To determine the nature of Facebook Usage in a Canadian university sample. That is,

how much time does the average student spend on Facebook, how many friends do

they typically have and what types of interactions do they engage in?; 2. To examine the

relationship between time spent on Facebook and the quality of off-line relationships;

and 3. To examine the role of relationship quality as a mediating factor in the

relationship between Facebook Usage and psychological well-being. Furthermore,

gender differences in relation to Facebook Usage and its implications was also

examined.

Method

Participants

Phase 1 participants were 1289 university students recruited from the Carleton

University Psychology participant pool for the initial part of the study. Participants

ranged in age from 18 to 56 years (M=20.4, SD=1.67).

Participants were placed into one of three Facebook Usage groups, based on the

number of hours spent on Facebook each day: a high usage group (N=83), an average,

or medium, usage group (N=349) and a low usage group (N=803) based on their self-


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reported scores. After removing 54 participants due to missing data regarding their

Facebook usage, a random subset of Phase 1 participants were then invited via email to

participate in Phase 2 of the current study which aimed to gather specific descriptive

data on Facebook, relationship quality and well-being measures. Phase 2 consisted of

284 students (50 males, 234 females) who were each categorized into four age categories

with (1) 17-20, (2) 21-24, (3) 25-30, and (4) 31 and older into the existing Facebook Usage

groups: high usage group (N=38), a medium usage group (N=74) and a low usage

group (N=172).

Materials

Phase 1.Online questionnaires were used to evaluate participants self-reported

Facebook usage in Phase 1 (including usage number of Facebook friends, time spent per

day on Facebook and reasons and purposes for engaging in Facebook use). Participants

were asked to indicate how much time they spent on Facebook on a daily basis using

categorical criteria ranging from 10 minutes or less to 4-5 hours per day. They were also

asked to indicate how many Facebook Friends they had on their profile using similar

grouped categories (i.e. between 51-100 friends, 100-199 friends, etc.).

Phase 2. Six online items were used to investigate attitudes towards Facebook

usage, engagement in Facebook activities, relationship and friendship quality and

psychological adjustment (as defined by self-esteem and depression). All Phase 2

participants completed an online package of surveys that addressed topics in the order

described below.


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Close friendships. Participants completed the Friendship Activity Questionnaire to

determine quality of close friendships(Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994).

Romantic relationships. Participants who were in a dating relationship for which

they have regular contact (i.e. daily or weekly contact) were asked to rate their current

romantic relationship on six subscales(Fletcher, Simpsom, & Thomas, 2000).

Psychological well-being.To assess participant overall psychological well-being,

participants were asked to complete the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale

(CES-D; Radloff, 1977) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES; Rosenberg, 1965).

Procedure

Participants were recruited through the universitys psychology participation

pool. Phase 1 participants were asked to complete the 2009 Mass Testing package,

which collected basic demographic information and initial Facebook usage patterns. A

subset of Phase 1 participants who completed the initial Mass Testing were then

selected for Phase 2 of the study based on their Facebook usage group scores from the

Mass Testing package. After indicating an interest in the study, Phase 2 participants

were individually contacted by email and given the web link to the online survey

package as well as the necessary login credentials. Although the link to the survey was

hosted on the universitys Web server, questionnaires were posted on the web via

Survey Monkey, an online survey software company. The total battery took

approximately 60 minutes to complete. Participants were recruited over a 3-week

timeframe in January 2009 and data was collected over the course of a two-month


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period during the winter of 2009/2010.

Results

Phase 1

For preliminary analyses, participant responses were grouped according to

specific categories for each variable in order to easily compare each variable and factor

as a function of age and gender. For Age, participants were grouped into one of four

age groups: (1) 17-20, (2) 21-24, (3) 25-30 and (4) 31 and older. Participant responses

regarding the number of Facebook friends were grouped into one of three Facebook

friend groups: (1) 0-199 friends, (2) 200-499 friends, and (3) Greater than 500. In terms

of time spent on Facebook, participants were grouped into one of three usage groups:

(1) an hour or less, (2) between 1-4 hours and (3) More than 4 hours.

Chi square analyses and ANOVA were both performed to examine possible

variability in Facebook Usage (defined in hours) as a function of age and gender. In

general, females reported a greater number of Facebook friends than did males x (6,

N=1289) = .001p < .001, with males being over-represented in the lowest friend

category (between 0-199) while females were over-represented in the highest Facebook

friends category (greater than 500). Results also indicated a significant relationship

between gender and the number of Facebook Usage hours x (6, N=1289) = .001p < .001,

with females reporting greater usage as compared to males in the highest usage group.

Not surprisingly, when analyzing participant age as a function of Facebook Usage

hours, results indicated a significant relationship between age and the number of


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(LSD) results revealed a significant overall effect of age F(12, 1259 ) = 5.02,p=.000,

Wilkss Lambda significance = .953 , p2 = .016, showing that younger participants

differed than older participants in terms of their Facebook Usage behavior.

Overall, younger participants (aged 17-20) rated Social Engagement and Daily

Component aspect of Facebook significantly lower than older adults (aged 31 and

older). Younger participants rated the Stimulation Aspect of Facebook significantly

lower than participants aged 21-24, however both younger participants and participants

aged 21-24 rated the New Relationships aspect of Facebook significantly higher than

older participants (aged 25-30 and 31 and older).

Phase 2

The purpose of Phase 2 was to examine the potential relationship between

Facebook Usage and psychological adjustment as measured by both depression and

self-esteem scores. Of particular interest was the potential mediating role of offline

relationship quality. Relationships between psychological adjustment and managing

relationships on Facebook were also explored.

Correlational analysis. Analyses revealed a number of significant relationships

between interpersonal relationship quality and psychological adjustment. Both

romantic relationship quality and friendship quality were positively correlated with

general self-esteem. Participants with a higher quality of interpersonal relationships,

both friendship-based and romantic, felt more positively about themselves.

Furthermore, both relationship quality and friendship quality were negatively


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correlated with depression. Participants with a better overall quality of interpersonal

relationships reported lower levels of depression. However, Facebook Usage (as

measured by hours spent on Facebook per day) was not significantly related to

psychological adjustment.

Regression analyses. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the

relationship between Facebook Usage and psychological adjustment and the role that

interpersonal relationships play in this relationship. For the purposes of the regression

analysis, Facebook Usage was re-coded into high and low groups (low usage= less than

one hour of usage, high usage= one hour or more usage).

Of particular interest was whether interpersonal relationships (both romantic

based and friendship) mediated the relationship between Facebook Usage,

operationalized as hours spent on Facebook, and psychological adjustment. It was

expected that those individuals who reported greater Facebook Usage would tend to

have lower offline relationship quality and thus lower levels of psychological

adjustment. However, contrary to the hypothesis, and consistent with correlational

analysis, there was no significant relationship between Facebook hours and

psychological adjustment. Given the fact that Facebook Usage was unrelated to

psychological adjustment, mediation analyses were no longer possible. As such,

regression analyses were then used to determine potential significant interactions

between Facebook hours and relationship and friendship quality.

Predicting self-esteem.


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relationships offline, a principal components Factor Analysis with varimax rotation was

conducted on participant Facebook usage behaviors and revealed two factors: (a)

Relationship Maintenance (e.g. I would rather message someone on Facebook than

phone them or text them; percentage of total variance accounted for=28%; Cronbachs

alpha=.81) and (b) Coping with Conflict (e.g. I have blocked a friend when we have

been in a fight with each other; percentage of total variance accounted for=17.77%;

Cronbachs alpha=.75). Results showed no significant gender or age differences. Due to

the lack of main effects of Facebook Usage, subsequent regression analyses were

conducted using relationship management on Facebook (as measured by Relationship

maintenance on Facebook and Coping with relationship conflict on Facebook) as

predictors of psychological well-being.

Predicting self-esteem. On Step 1, both variables (Relationship maintenance and

Coping with Conflict) significantly and negatively predicted levels of self-esteem (= -

.08 and -.05, respectively). That is, greater management on-line in terms both of

relationship maintenance and coping with conflict were negatively associated with self-

esteem.

Predicting depression. With respect to maintaining relationships and coping

with conflict, both variables significantly predicted levels of depression (= .12 and .12,

respectively).

Discussion


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The current study was interested in how university students use Facebook and

how this online community can impact interpersonal relationships. With regard to

gender differences. Females had a greater number of friends and reported more activity

in the highest Facebook Usage group than did males. Furthermore, as indicated in the

previous section, the reasons for engaging in Facebook activity also differed by gender,

with females doing more things on Facebook than males; acts such as using Facebook to

engage in potential new relationships and including it as part of their daily routine.

Research has demonstrated consistently that friendships of females are generally

characterized by greater intimacy than those of males and are often in greater numbers

than those of males (Beneson & Christakos, 2003). Scholars also argue that females are

socialized to be more oriented towards relationships than boys, which may not only

lead to higher levels of perceived intimacy but also in being more consciously involved

in establishing large social groups (Gilligan, 1982; Way & Greene, 2006). Gender

differences in the current study therefore demonstrate the greater propensity for

females to have a greater number of friends and to use Facebook as a means for

interacting with friends and romantic partners because it allows for one-to-one access

while maintaining a publicly visible large social network. Clark and Ayers (1993) have

also found that during later adolescence to young adulthood, females come to expect

greater intimacy and self-disclosure from their close friends than males. Therefore,

females, in terms of their greater number of Facebook friends, could potentially be

interacting on Facebook as a means to initiate intimacy without having to face the


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potential rejection which occurs in face-to-face interactions, which explains the

difference in Facebook friends as compared to males.

It was hypothesized that participants who reported greater Facebook Usage would

demonstrate lower psychological adjustment. This was not the case. Results revealed

that there was no main effect of Facebook Usage on psychological adjustment. This

indicates that time spent on Facebook does not impact the level of self-esteem or

depression of users. Although we had hypothesized that total time on Facebook would

be related to indices of psychological well-being, one reason perhaps why we did not

find a significant relationship was that participants had a difficult time estimating the

time they spent on Facebook. This may be particularly so because frequent internet

users tend to have multiple applications open at one time, perhaps even all day, and

may underestimate the seamless shift among them (Budiman, 2008).

Furthermore, because of the difficulty in creating a well-structured and definitive

measure of Facebook Usage, hours spent on Facebook appeared to inaccurately

quantify Facebook Usage. This affected the ability to examine whether there were

differences in Facebook Usage, as hours did not capture usage purposes, on

psychological adjustment. Consequently, further exploratory analyses examined the

differences in the ways in which people made use of Facebook in managing their

relationships to provide further insight into this interest area.

Consistent with previous research, the quality of a relationship did positively

predict psychological adjustment. This relationship was strongest for participants who


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were in the low Facebook Usage category (less than one hour a day). This may suggest

that those who spent less time on Facebook, perceive offline relationships as more

important than the online interactions they have. These low Facebook users choose to

manage and maintain close interpersonal relationships differently offline, than those

who engage in greater Facebook Usage which in turn appears to predict higher levels of

self-esteem.

This particular finding coincides with past research which suggests that the

establishment of intimacy and quality within personal relationships develops through

the participation in shared activities and discussion of shared interests and personal

issues (Lee & Boyer, 2007). Friendships which originate on the internet are generally

perceived as less close and of lower quality than offline grounded relationships because

they are so new and the interactive physical cues are lacking (Kim, LaRose, & Peng,

2009; Lee & Boyer, 2007); which in turn may predict a weaker relationships between

interpersonal relationship quality and self-esteem (Lee & Boyer, 2007; Mesch & Talmud,

2006). Perhaps individuals who are infrequent Facebook users then, show a stronger

link between self-esteem and their interpersonal connections because most of their

interpersonal relationships are in fact, off-line.

Results revealed that there was no significant relationship between friendship

quality and depression however, there was a significant main effect of relationship

quality and depression. Participants with greater quality of romantic relationship offline

reported lower levels of depression. This is consistent with previous research


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(Christofides, Muise, & Desmarais, 2009), which indicates that Facebook may actually

increase the likelihood of jealousy and thus increase the level of relational conflict as a

result of online romantic interactions which may not exist otherwise in offline

relationships as our results showed. Therefore, results from the current study suggest

that users who have higher quality off line romantic relationship, show lower levels of

depression and arguably, lowered levels of stress and relational conflict.

Finally, exploratory analyses revealed significant differences in terms of the

functionality of Facebook on both psychological adjustment and managing

interpersonal relations. Of particular interest was the idea of managing relations

through Facebook and the potential effects this may have on psychological adjustment.

Results revealed a significant and negative relationship for both relationship

maintenance and coping with conflict and the prediction of self-esteem. That is, the

greater the amount of relational management on-line in terms of both keeping in touch

with friends and loved ones and dealing with conflict within said relationships, the

lower the level of individual self-esteem.

While managing relationships on-line did not predict relationship quality,

managing relationships using Facebook as a vehicle does predict depression and is

furthermore consistent with research suggesting that prolonged internet use has been

shown to predict greater levels of depression and loneliness (Morgan & Cotton, 2003).

Results also revealed a significant interaction between coping with conflict, relationship

maintenance and relationship (romantic) quality and its effectiveness on predicting


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depression. This indicates that the more individuals are using Facebook to replace face-

to-face interactions and to manage their personal relationships, the more likely they are

to have reduced relationship quality and consequently higher levels of depression.

Interestingly, there were no significant gender or age differences between participants

in terms of managing relationships on Facebook. As past research demonstrates there

are visible trends in terms of Facebook use and preferences for what people are doing

online, however, there is little to suggest that there are differences in Facebook Usage in

terms of relationship maintenance and coping with conflict; although perhaps these

variables need to be quantified differently for future research.

The findings from the present study demonstrate that Facebook does affect

friendship quality, but more importantly, that time spent in relationship maintenance

on Facebook may in fact be affecting psychological adjustment. These findings are

relevant to the larger understanding of emerging Facebook research and point to the

practical implications associated with internet usage, purposes for engaging in

extensive internet uses, and evaluation of this new social networking media on

interpersonal relationship quality. Results from this study may provide further insight

into new approaches for improving offline social networking, communication and

coping with relationships for emerging adults. It is essential to future research that

specific purposes for engaging in, and activities on, Facebook be targeted and properly

assessed to be able to determine which individual users are most subject to potential

decreases in psychological well-being as a result of online communication and


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relationships.

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