CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 172Impact of Technology on AdolescentsChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentBullying, Victimization, and Aggression

Adolescent peer relationships and behavior problems predict young adults’ communication on social networking websites.

Open access
Mikami, Amori Yee, Szwedo, David E., Allen, Joseph P., Evans, Meredyth A., Hare, Amanda L.·2010·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037/a0017420PMC PMC2855302
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This study examined online communication on social networking web pages in a longitudinal sample of 92 youths (39 male, 53 female). Participants' social and behavioral adjustment was assessed when they were ages 13-14 years and again at ages 20-22 years. At ages 20-22 years, participants' social networking website use and indicators of friendship quality on their web pages were coded by observers. Results suggested that youths who had been better adjusted at ages 13-14 years were more likely to be using social networking web pages at ages 20-22 years, after statistically controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and parental income. Overall, youths' patterns of peer relationships, friendship quality, and behavioral adjustment at ages 13-14 years and at ages 20-22 years predicted similar qualities of interaction and problem behavior on their social networking websites at ages 20-22 years. Findings are consistent with developmental theory asserting that youths display cross-situational continuity in their social behaviors and suggest that the conceptualization of continuity may be extended into the online domain.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/a0017420

Cites

78 of 78 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Youth with lower self-esteem and weaker offline friendships may be more prone to problematic online behaviors, including posting negative content and consuming content instead of communicating directly with peers.

    “For example, research suggests that individuals with lower self-esteem and poorer offline friendship quality are more likely to engage in maladaptive behaviors using technology, such as posting negative or inappropriate content and using the Internet primarily for content consumption, rather than direct communication with peers (Mikami et al. 2010; Selfhout et al. 2009).”

    From Using Social Media for Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking: Gender and Popularity Moderate Associations with Depressive Symptoms (2015) · cites this paper as Mikami et al. 2010

    The Discussion reports that weaker face-to-face peer relationships predicted fewer online friends and fewer comments indicating connection, while adolescent delinquency and depressive symptoms predicted hostile profile text and inappropriate photos, respectively. This supports the claim’s broad link between offline difficulties and some negative online content, but the paper does not establish lower self-esteem or using the Internet primarily to consume content rather than communicate directly with peers. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Adolescents who are popular and have higher self-esteem may make fewer upward comparisons, feel less negative after comparisons, and receive more positive peer feedback.

    “Popular adolescents, who are higher in self-esteem (Babad 2001), may engage in fewer upward comparisons, experience less negative affect as a result of these comparisons, and receive more positive feedback from peers (Mikami et al. 2010).”

    From Using Social Media for Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking: Gender and Popularity Moderate Associations with Depressive Symptoms (2015) · cites this paper as Mikami et al. 2010

    The Results (Longitudinal Associations Between Early Adolescent Adjustment and Web Page Indicators; page unavailable) report that higher peer status at ages 13–14 predicted more friends posting supportive comments on participants’ social-networking pages at ages 20–22. This supports the positive-feedback portion in that specific setting, but the paper does not address upward comparisons or negative affect resulting from them. The self-esteem assertion is separately attributed to Babad (2001). (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Individuals lower in popularity and self-esteem receive less positive feedback on social networking profiles and post updates that are more negative and less positive.

    “Prior research suggests that individuals lower in popularity and self-esteem receive less positive feedback on their social networking profiles (Mikami et al. 2010) and post updates that are higher in negativity and lower in positivity (Forest and Wood 2012).”

    From Using Social Media for Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking: Gender and Popularity Moderate Associations with Depressive Symptoms (2015) · cites this paper as Mikami et al. 2010

    The Results (Longitudinal Associations; page unavailable) report that higher peer sociometric status at ages 13–14 predicted more friends posting supportive comments on participants’ web pages, supporting the popularity portion of the clause attributed to Mikami et al. Our copy does not report the same finding for self-esteem. The claim about the positivity of participants’ own updates is cited to Forest and Wood, not Mikami et al., and is not part of this verdict. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Situational continuity between offline and online contexts suggests that this effect is likely to occur online as well.

    “Situational continuity between offline and online contexts (Mikami et al. 2010) suggest that this effect is likely to occur online, as well.”

    From Using Social Media for Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking: Gender and Popularity Moderate Associations with Depressive Symptoms (2015) · cites this paper as Mikami et al. 2010

  • The link between reassurance-seeking and depressive symptoms may be especially strong for adolescent girls and may also appear in online settings.

    “Furthermore, associations between reassurance-seeking behaviors and depressive symptoms may be particularly strong among adolescent girls, for whom rates of depression are higher in general (Starr and Davila 2008), and given known situational continuities between online and offline contexts (Mikami et al. 2010), this effect may occur online, as well.”

    From Using Social Media for Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking: Gender and Popularity Moderate Associations with Depressive Symptoms (2015) · cites this paper as Mikami et al. 2010

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Kovacs M Beck AT An empirical clinical approach toward a definition of childhood depression 1977 Raven Press New York

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Mikami, A. Y., Szwedo, D. E., Allen, J. P., Evans, M. A., & Hare, A. L.
Affiliations
University of Virginia (US)
ORCID
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2010-01
Volume
46
Issue
1
Pages
46-56
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
DOI
10.1037/a0017420
PMC
PMC2855302
OpenAlex
W2103441872
Semantic Scholar
f5527fab8ab4f264ef07eac7ca7588c755a85fb9
Cited by
172
References
75
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 15
FWCI
44.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (1R01MH44934; 1R01MH58066)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
Keywords
social networking websites, online communication, peer relationships, friendship quality, behavioral problems, social adaptation, adolescence, early adulthood
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Child Behavior Disorders, Communication, Computer Communication Networks, Depression, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Peer Group, Predictive Value of Tests, Social Behavior, Adolescent Development, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review