Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2012 Mar;48(2):369-80. doi: 10.1037/a0026338. Epub 2012 Jan 30.
Is there a trade-off between having large networks of social connections on social networking sites such as Facebook and the development of intimacy and social support among today's generation of emerging adults? To understand the socialization context of Facebook during the transition to adulthood, an online survey was distributed to college students at a large urban university; participants answered questions about their relationships by systematically sampling their Facebook contacts while viewing their Facebook profiles online. Results confirmed that Facebook facilitates expansive social networks that grow disproportionately through distant kinds of relationship (acquaintances and activity connections), while also expanding the number of close relationships and stranger relationships, albeit at slower rates. Those with larger networks estimated that larger numbers of contacts in their networks were observing their status updates, a form of public communication to one's entire contact list. The major function of status updates was emotional disclosure, the key feature of intimacy. This finding indicates the transformation of the nature of intimacy in the environment of a social network site. In addition, larger networks and larger estimated audiences predicted higher levels of life satisfaction and perceived social support on Facebook. These findings emphasize the psychological importance of audience in the Facebook environment. Findings also suggest that social networking sites help youth to satisfy enduring human psychosocial needs for permanent relations in a geographically mobile world--college students with higher proportions of maintained contacts from the past (primarily high school friends) perceived Facebook as a more useful tool for procuring social support.
在像 Facebook 这样的社交网站上拥有庞大的社交网络，与当今这一代新兴成年人之间的亲密关系和社会支持的发展之间是否存在权衡取舍？为了了解成年过渡期 Facebook 的社会化背景，一项在线调查分发给了一所大型城市大学的大学生；参与者通过在网上查看他们的 Facebook 个人资料，系统地从他们的 Facebook 联系人中抽样，回答了关于他们关系的问题。结果证实，Facebook 促进了广泛的社交网络的发展，这些网络通过远距离的关系（熟人关系和活动关系）不成比例地增长，同时也扩大了亲密关系和陌生人关系的数量，尽管速度较慢。那些拥有更大网络的人估计，他们网络中的更多联系人正在关注他们的状态更新，这是一种向整个联系人列表公开交流的形式。状态更新的主要功能是情感披露，这是亲密关系的关键特征。这一发现表明了在社交网站环境中亲密关系性质的转变。此外，更大的网络和更大的估计受众预测了更高水平的生活满意度和在 Facebook 上感知到的社会支持。这些发现强调了受众在 Facebook 环境中的心理重要性。研究结果还表明，社交网站帮助年轻人在地理上移动的世界中满足持久的人类心理社会需求，与过去（主要是高中朋友）保持联系的比例较高的大学生认为 Facebook 是获取社会支持的更有用工具。
