Connecting Developmental Constructions to the Internet: Identity Presentation and Sexual Exploration in Online Teen Chat Rooms
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2006 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Developmental psychology |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.apa.org/releases/dev423-subrahmanyam.pdf |
| Field | Psychology |
| Keywords | Internet; chat rooms; adolescence; identity; sexual exploration |
| Description | In order to connect developmental issues to Internet use, we examined the online construction of identity and sexuality in a large sample of conversations from two teen chat services, one monitored and one unmonitored. More than half of the 583 participants (each participant identified by a distinct screen name) communicated identity information about themselves, the most frequent category being gender. In this way the participants compensated for the text-based chat environment by providing information about themselves that would be visible and obvious in face-to-face interaction. Sexual themes constituted 5% of the conversation across the whole sample (about one sexual comment per minute); bad or obscene language constituted 3% of all utterances in the sample (less than one obscenity per minute). Participants who self identified as female produced more implicit sexual communication, whereas participants who self identified as male produced more explicit sexual communication. This gender difference provided insight into the sexual dynamics of male-female communication in adolescence. The more protected environment of monitored chat (providing hosts who enforce basic behavioral rules) was more popular with participants who represented themselves as younger and female; these rooms contained an environment with less explicit sexuality and fewer obscenities than unmonitored chat rooms. In contrast, the freer environment of unmonitored chat was more popular with participants who represented themselves as older and male; unmonitored chat had a higher frequency of explicit sexual communication and a higher frequency of obscenities. These differences were attributable both to the monitoring process itself and to the differing populations attracted to the two types of chat room. |
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