Note
to editors: To arrange an interview with the Kaveri Subrahmanyam, contact
Cal State L.A.’s Public Affairs Office at 323-343-3050.
Los
Angeles, CA – According
to a study recently published in a Nov.-Dec. special issue of the
Journal of Applied Development Psychology (JADP), popular
social networking activities among college students include interacting
with existing offline friends rather than seeking out new friends, new
music, or finding groups to discuss specific issues.
“Mostly they seem to be using these newer social
networking sites to extend and strengthen offline concerns and
relationships,” said Kaveri Subrahmanyam, a psychology professor
at Cal State L.A. (CSULA) and a lead author on this study
about the
use of online social networks by emerging adults.
Subrahmanyam and her colleagues, Stephanie M.
Reich of UC Irvine, Natalia Waechter of UCLA and The Austrian Institute
for Youth Research, and Guadalupe Espinoza of UCLA, report that visiting
social networking sites, such as MySpace and FaceBook, is a popular
online activity among emerging adults, age 18-22.
In their study, participants reported using
social networking sites primarily: to keep in touch with friends they do
not see often (81%); because all their friends have accounts (61%); to
keep in touch with relatives and family (48%); and to make plans with
friends they do not see often (36%).
A developmental psychologist, Professor
Subrahmanyam is also director of the CSULA Media and Language Lab and
associate director of the Children’s Digital Media Center of Los
Angeles. Subrahmanyam is an expert on the effect of interactive media on
children and adolescents. She is also interested in children’s cognitive
and language development and in second language learning.
Subrahmanyam—who co-edited the
JADP special issue with Patricia M. Greenfield, professor of
psychology at UCLA and director of the Children’s Digital Media Center
of Los Angeles—said, “As technology has become all-pervasive in young
people’s lives, it is important for us to understand its role in
development. That is, we may see some behaviors change in online
contexts, see others unaltered, and find out how participating in online
contexts affects young people’s development.”
The special issue is one of the first to explore
behavioral development in the context of the latest ‘hot’ application,
social networking sites. It reports several trends, including how
emerging adults/college students are using sites for
identity exploration as well as for
interconnections. Use of social networking sites also seems to
help students in
forming social capital, particularly for those with low self-esteem.
Additionally, the special issue reveals a
mismatch between parents’ estimation of online dangers and their
children’s actual behavior. There is also a
book review that examines parenting books published in the popular
press to help parents navigate online challenges.
Along with Subrahmanyan and Greenfield, other
featured authors include Adriana M. Manago, Michael B. Graham and Goldie
Salimkhan, UCLA; Larry D. Rosen, Nancy A. Cheever and L. Mark Carrier,
CSU Dominguez Hills; Charles Steinfield, Nicole Ellison and Cliff Lampe,
Michigan State University; and Zheng Yan, University at Albany (State
University of New York).
For more about Professor Subrahmanyam and her
research, call (323) 343-2259 or go to
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/ksubrah/SUBRA.HTM.
# # #
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College students are not
going
online to connect with strangers
Special issue of the Journal of Applied
Developmental Psychology reveals social networking trends
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