Intellectually Gifted Adolescents: Exploring the Link between Social Media Use and Peer Relationships
Frieda Maria Wijnker (10084681) University of Amsterdam
July 2015
Graduate School of Communication Research Master Communication Science
Abstract
This study addressed the link between intellectually gifted adolescents’ social media use and two aspects of their peer relationships, namely their perceived social support and friendship initiation, both offline and online. As it is sometimes suggested that gifted adolescents are more at risk for social difficulties, the aim of the study was threefold: (1) To understand how gifted adolescents experienced their offline and online peer relationships, (2) To understand which social media types they typically used, which was investigated by means of an
instrument developed in a preliminary pilot study, (3) To investigate whether social media use either promoted or hindered their offline and online peer relationships. An online survey was administered among 133 Dutch gifted adolescents. Gifted adolescents generally experienced their peer relationships rather favourable, especially their offline peer relationships. They used a wide variety of different social media types and turned to relatively new platforms as well, such as virtual worlds and content sharing communities. Frequency of social media use related to higher levels of perceived online social support and online friendship initiation, but no association was found with perceived offline social support and offline friendship
initiation. The findings thus suggest that gifted adolescents benefit from social media use primarily in terms of online peer relationships. Although this study draws a rather favourable picture of the social lives of gifted adolescents, it also emphasizes the potential value of social media use for particular groups of gifted adolescents. Longitudinal research that investigates which specific groups these are is necessary. As successful peer relationships are a crucial element of adolescents’ wellbeing, such research would further enlarge our knowledge of the well-being of this special group of youth.
Keywords: intellectually gifted adolescents, social media use, peer relationships,
Intellectually Gifted Adolescents: Exploring the Link between Social Media Use and Peer Relationships
In recent years, the Internet has become an important part of our everyday lives (Correa, Hinsley, & De Zuniga, 2010). Especially adolescents, who are the defining users of the Internet, spend a significant part of their day behind their laptop, computer, tablet or mobile phone to browse the Internet (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007). Visiting social networking sites and using online technologies for interpersonal communication have become key practices among this group of intensive users (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010; Valkenburg & Peter, 2011). The emergence of mobile and web-based social platforms enables adolescents to communicate and exchange user-generated content and create personal profiles in an online environment (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011).
Research on adolescents and their online practices has expanded rapidly during the past decade. Studies have focused on the prevalence and preferences of social media use among adolescents (e.g., Lenhart et al., 2010; Weiser, 2000). In the Netherlands, 93% of adolescents between twelve and eighteen years old actively engages in online social networking (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2013). With the increase in use of social networking sites among adolescents, concerns within society as well as the scientific field regarding adolescents’ practices on these platforms have risen. Research has focused on the potential risks adolescents encounter with regards to online content, contacts and privacy (e.g., Livingstone & Haddon, 2008). However, recently, studies emphasized that social media use can also offer adolescents a variety of social affordances, such as staying connected with peers and family, engaging in new friendships or even deeper benefits related to their view of self and sense of community (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011; Peter, Valkenburg, & Schouten, 2005).
Additionally, studies that focused on links between online and offline contacts indicate that the boundaries between both fade. Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe (2007) for instance found that the intensity of Facebook usage among adolescents in their study positively related to their social capital, which indicates that social media use may contribute to the
development of offline contacts into strong connections. Additionally, the use of instant messaging technologies enhanced adolescents’ ability to initiate offline friendships
(Koutamanis, Vossen, Peter, & Valkenburg, 2013). As such, the use of these communication technologies may teach users social skills which can be transferred to offline situations.
Although the available studies contribute to our understanding of adolescents’ social media use, they often fail to take into account the diversity that exists among adolescents. Research has focused primarily on typically developing adolescents, while special groups of adolescent users are often left out. In order to fill this research gap, this study investigates the role of social media in the lives of one particular group of adolescents, namely intellectually gifted adolescents. Intellectually gifted adolescents are a heterogeneous group of individuals who are developmentally advanced in one or more academic or cognitive domains (Robinson, 2008). They show extraordinary natural abilities to reason, learn, perform and achieve at these domains (National Association for Gifted Children, 2010).
It is often assumed that gifted adolescents are more at risk for difficulties with regards to peer relationships, such as lower rates of peer acceptance, struggles to find like-minded peers or rejection by peers as a result of being ‘different’ (Reis & Renzulli, 2004; Robinson, 2008; Striley, 2014). As the establishment of successful peer relationships is a crucial element to the well-being of early adolescents (Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1993), it is important to understand how this can be promoted. Given the potential affordances of social media use with regards to friendship initiation, friendship maintenance and the access to different groups (O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011; Peter & Valkenburg, & Schouten, 2005; Steinfield,
Ellison, & Lampe, 2008), one way would be through understanding the social media use of gifted adolescents. Hence, this study aims to explore gifted adolescents’ social media use and its relation to two aspects of their peer relationships, namely perceived social support from friends and friendship initiation, both offline and online.
Intellectually Gifted Adolescents and Peer Relationships
Gifted social resilience perspective. Studies that focus on the offline peer
relationships of gifted adolescents are generally characterized by two contrasting perspectives. The first perspective, referred to as the gifted social resilience perspective, argues that gifted adolescents are socially just as well-adjusted, or perhaps even better adjusted, than their non-gifted peers (Garland & Zigler, 1999; Shechtman & Silektor, 2012). In line with this
perspective, studies showed that gifted adolescents’ levels of interpersonal ability are
comparable to those of non-gifted adolescents (Lee, Olszewksi-Kubilius, & Thomson, 2012; Shechtman & Silektor, 2012). Moreover, gifted children show higher levels of maturity in social skills at an earlier age compared to non-gifted children (Robinson, 2008). Gifted adolescents generally perceive themselves as capable to initiate, form and maintain peer relationships (Lee et al., 2012).
Furthermore, over years some evidence has been collected that gifted children have a ‘popularity advantage’ over non-gifted peers. Studies found that gifted elementary school children are rated high in popularity by their classmates, sometimes even higher than non-gifted students (Gallagher, 1958; Luftig & Nichols, 199l). This popularity advantage seems to be most pronounced for gifted boys (Bain & Bell, 2004; Luftig & Nichols, 1991).
Gifted social risk perspective. A contrasting perspective, the gifted social risk perspective, emphasizes a more negative view. In contrast to the gifted social resilience perspective, this perspective suggests that gifted adolescents are more at risk for social difficulties than their non-gifted peers (e.g., Robinson, 2008, Striley, 2014). In general,
studies within this perspective emphasize three major sources of risk for difficulties with regards to peer relationships.
The first source of risk for social difficulties is an asynchrony between the cognitive, emotional and physical developmental domains (Pfeiffer & Stocking, 2000). Due to this asynchrony, gifted adolescents may feel ‘out of place’ or different from peers (Lee at al., 2012). One study for instance clearly demonstrated that the majority of gifted adolescents felt different from other students (Cross, Coleman, & Stewart, 1995). As a result of different interests, worries and levels of personal maturity it may be a challenge for gifted adolescents to find like-minded peers (Pfeiffer & Stocking, 2000, Robinson, 2008).
The second source of risk revolves around friendship expectations. Gifted adolescents seem to have different expectations of friendships compared to their non-gifted peers (Gross, 2004; Shechtman & Silektor, 2012). In contrast to their non-gifted peers, gifted children seek trustful and close relationships at a younger age, which may be caused by their accelerated social development (Shechtman & Silektor, 2012). As mental age is often of greater
importance than chronological age in their establishment of friendships, they may seek older friends whose emotional and intellectual development is at a similar level (Gross, 2004; Robinson, 2008). Particularly in contemporary age-based school systems it may be a challenge to form such friendships.
The establishment of successful peer relationships is not solely hindered by the absence of like-minded peers. The third and final source of risk is constituted by the
stigmatization gifted adolescents are potentially faced with, which may hinder them to form peer relationships in which they can express their true self. While gifted adolescents generally hold positive perceptions of their own giftedness (Kerr, Colangelo, & Geath, 1988), non-gifted peers may stigmatize or reject them for their superiority and differentness (Cross, Coleman, & Terhaar-Yonkers, 2014; Striley, 2014). Similar to non-gifted adolescents, gifted
adolescents have a desire for normal social interactions with peers (Coleman & Cross, 2014). In order to achieve this, they may feel forced to choose between their need for peer
acceptance and the expression of their true gifted selves (Gross, 1998; Jung, Barnett, Gross, & McCormick, 2011). For instance, gifted adolescents in a qualitative study indicated that they felt stigmatized by their peers and therefore attempted to conceal their giftedness (Coleman & Cross, 2014).
Since both perspectives, the gifted social resilience perspective as well as the gifted social risk perspective, yielded some empirical support and studies showed mixed findings (Neihart, 1999), it seems most legitimate to balance both perspectives. Intellectually gifted adolescents thus most likely constitute a heterogeneous group, which includes adolescents who possess difficulties with regards to peer relationships as well as adolescents who are socially just as well-adjusted as their non-gifted peers. The current study aims to compare these contrasting perspectives as it examines how gifted adolescents experience their own peer relationships, namely their offline as well as online perceived social support and friendship initiation.
Social Media Use and Peer Relationships
With the emergence of social media types the boundaries between offline and online peer relationships fade for non-gifted adolescents (e.g., Ellison et al., 2007; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007). Adolescents use Facebook to maintain contacts with people they lost touch with in real life, as well as to strengthen their offline relationships (Ellison et al., 2007). As a result, existing offline peer relationships may be enhanced by the use of online communication technologies (Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010; Ellison et al., 2007). Additionally, direct interaction between users and other friends on Facebook is found to increase feelings of bonding social capital (Burke et al., 2010). The latter finding indicates that social media use
may contribute to the establishment of close relationships from which emotional support can be derived (Vitak, Ellison, & Steinfield, 2011).
Over years, studies investigated these general affordances of social media use solely among non-gifted adolescents. The present study is marked by a shift from this focus as it attempts to uncover whether gifted adolescents benefit from these affordances as well. The aim is thus to understand which social media are typically used by gifted adolescents and how social media use affects their peer relationships. In other words, do social media offer a source of social support or opportunities for friendship initiation and how does social media use affect gifted adolescents’ offline peer relationships?
Internet-induced social skills hypothesis. According to two related hypotheses with regards to the role of social media in peer relationships, individuals may benefit from social media use in two ways. The Internet-induced social skills hypothesis was introduced by Koutamanis et al. (2013) and addresses the link between online communication and offline peer relationships. According to this hypothesis, online communication enhances users’ offline peer relationships as a result of two underlying mechanisms. First, online
communication allows individuals to rehearse their social skills with a variety of
communication partners (Koutamanis et al., 2013). And second, the online environment provides a safe, anonymous place in which users can talk about intimate subjects, which facilitates the rehearsal of offline self-disclosure (Valkenburg & Peter, 2011; Valkenburg, Sumter, & Peter, 2011).
Although the specific role of the underlying mechanism of self-disclosure remains rather unexplored (Koutamanis et al., 2013), studies that focused on the relationship between online communication and offline peer relationships generally yielded support for the
Internet-induced social skills hypothesis. Instant messaging for instance allowed adolescents to practice their social skills with different communication partners, which subsequently
enhanced their ability to initiate offline friendships (Koutamanis et al., 2013). Additionally, adolescents’ interactions with a variety of different partners through the virtual world World of Warcraft positively related to various components of offline social competence, including the ability to initiate offline friendships (Visser, Antheunis, & Schouten, 2013). H1: Social
media use of intellectually gifted adolescents positively relates to their offline friendship initiation.
Social compensation hypothesis. The social compensation hypothesis proposes that for individuals who are less successful in their offline relationships, online communication may be a welcome substitute or complement for offline interactions. According to this hypothesis, online communication is especially beneficial for those who struggle with their offline peer relationships, have limited offline social resources or feel uncomfortable during face-to-face communication (e.g., Kraut et al., 2002; Valkenburg & Peter, 2009a; Zywica & Danowski, 2008). Thus, in light of the gifted social risk perspective, social media use might be especially beneficial to gifted adolescents who struggle with their offline peer
relationships, as the Internet may allow them to establish successful online peer relationships. Key features of the Internet that contribute to the affordances of online communication for socially less successful users are the three A’s: anonymity, accessibility and
asynchronicity (Valkenburg & Peter, 2011; Weidman et al., 2012). In general, these features of Internet communication enhance the control users have over their online self-presentation and self-disclosure (Valkenburg & Peter, 2011). Previous studies have covered the advantages of the asynchronicity of online communication, the accessibility to various communication partners and the enhanced anonymity for samples of non-gifted users (e.g., Koutamanis et al., 2013). Two of these features specifically, namely accessibility and anonymity, may be
To start with, the Internet offers a relatively anonymous environment with reduced audio-visual cues (Valkenburg & Schouten, 2011). For gifted adolescents who feel
stigmatized or rejected by their peers in offline situations due to their giftedness (Cross et al., 2014; Striley, 2014), this anonymous environment may be particularly attractive as it allows them to control the extent to which they reveal or conceal their giftedness. Moreover, the anonymity may encourage them to take greater risks in self-disclosure than they usually do in face-to-face settings (McKenna & Bargh, 2000; Valkenburg & Peter, 2011). For gifted adolescents the Internet may thus constitute an environment in which they can disclose their personal worries and concerns more easily. Not only may this contribute to their feelings of perceived support, but also to the establishment of friendships (Bauminger, Finzi-Dottan, Chason, & Har-Even, 2008; Peter, Valkenburg, Schouten, 2005).
Second, the online accessibility to a variety of communication partners allows users to interact with like-minded persons or persons who are not easily accessible in offline situations (Valkenburg & Peter, 2011). Thus, while some gifted adolescents are expected to face
challenges in the initiation of friendships in offline situations (Gross, 2004; Robinson, 2008), the anonymity and accessibility to a broad variety of communication partners online may promote their online friendship formation. This assumption forms the basis for the second hypothesis. H2: Social media use of intellectually gifted adolescents positively relates to their
online friendship initiation.
Social Media and Social Support
In addition to studies that focused on online communication and friendship initiation, the link between online communication and perceived social support has also received attention (Leung, 2011; Shaw & Gant, 2002; Swickert, Hittner, Harris, & Herring, 2002). Perceived social support refers to “the exchange of resources between at least two individuals
perceived by the provider or the recipient to be intended to enhance the well-being of the recipient” (Shumaker & Brownell, 1984, p. 13).
Studies that focused on the relationship between social media use and perceived offline social support have yielded contrasting findings. An experimental study for instance showed that chat sessions with anonymous strangers enhanced the perceived offline social support of adolescents in the study (Shaw & Gant, 2002), which reflects a positive link between social media use and perceived offline social support. However, opposite
associations are found as well, with World of Warcraft players who played the game over 45 hours a week reporting the lowest levels of offline support (Longman, O’Connor, & Obst, 2009). This indicates that those who perceive low levels of offline social support may have a higher need to seek support in online sources, which is reflected in a negative link between perceived offline social support and social media use. The current study aims to understand this complex relationship between social media use and offline social support. RQ1: How
does the social media use of intellectually gifted adolescents relate to their perceived offline social support?
On the other hand, studies that focused on the link between social media use and perceived online social support mainly yielded favourable findings. Longman et al. (2009) for instance found that gamers who played World of Warcraft over a longer period of time
experienced more in-game social support than those who played it over a shorter period. These gamers indicated that they felt comfortable talking about intimate problems with fellow gamers. Additionally, the online environment seems to be a source for social support for societal minority groups. Users with health-related problems for instance may engage in supportive online communication with others who face the same problems (Wright & Bell, 2003). Although gifted adolescents are often a minority in their daily environment due to their differentness, no studies have addressed the relationship between their social media use and
perceived online social support. The current study aims to fill this gap. H3: Social media use
of intellectually gifted adolescents positively relates to their perceived online social support.
Social Compensation Motive
An important moderator to consider with regards to the relationships between social media use and online peer relationships is the social compensation motive (Peter, Valkenburg, & Schouten, 2006). In accordance with the social compensation hypothesis, especially
adolescents who perceive online communication to be a suitable substitute for face-to-face communication and use it to compensate for their offline social skills may benefit from the affordances of the Internet. Unsurprisingly, individuals who possess this so-called social compensation motive are more willing to have online conversations with various people, including strangers (Peter, Valkenburg, & Schouten, 2006). As such, it seems reasonable to suggest that these users are more likely to benefit from online communication in terms of perceived online social support and online friendship initiation. H4: Social media use of
intellectually gifted adolescents positively relates to their perceived online social support and online friendship initiation, and this is particularly the case for those who use online
communication to compensate for their offline social skills.
Intellectually Gifted Adolescents Online: Towards a Broader Definition of Social Media Although previous studies that focused on the affordances of social media contributed to our understanding of the role of social media in the social lives of adolescents, they are often rather narrowly scoped. The focus is predominantly on traditional social media types, such as instant messaging services (e.g., Hu, Wood, Smith, & Westbrook, 2004; Valkenburg & Peter, 2009b). However, the rapid growth of different social media types asks for a broader approach of the subject (Grimes & Fields, 2012). In order to go beyond the scope of previous studies and to be able to investigate which social media types are typically used by gifted adolescents, the current study holds the following broad conception of social media: “Mobile
and web-based platforms that contain a certain amount of ‘socialness’ and enable forms of communications between users, the creation and exchange of user-generated content, the creation of personal profiles and the production of networking residues” (based on Grimes & Fields, 2013, p. 3; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 61).
Drawing upon a combination of earlier social media categorizations fourteen separate social media types were identified that conformed to this definition (see Appendix A), which were classified into seven overarching social media types: Instant Messaging Applications, Social Networking Platforms, Public Chatrooms / Forums, Blogsites, Virtual Worlds, Content Sharing Communities and Knowledge Spaces. These overarching types are used to map gifted adolescents’ social media use. RQ2: Which social media types are typically used by
intellectually gifted adolescents?
Social media types generally differ on several aspects, such as the three
aforementioned A’s (i.e., anonymity, accessibility and asynchronicity), which may indirectly influence the extent to which they affect adolescents’ social lives. Undergraduate students for instance tended to self-disclose substantially more during visually anonymous forms of computer mediated communication than during computer mediated communication in which they were less visually anonymous (Joinson, 2001). As links are found between
self-disclosure during online communication and the quality of offline friendships as well as the quantity of online friendships (Bane, Cornish, Erspamer, & Kampman, 2010; Valkenburg & Peter, 2009b), it is reasonable to suggest that certain social media types are more beneficial with regards to peer relationships than others. For instance, while approximately 75% of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games established strong friendships within these online games (Cole & Griffiths, 2007), this may be fairly different for more traditional social media types.
Figure 1. Conceptual model depicting the relationship between social media use and peer
relationships, namely perceived social support and friendship initiation.
Current Study
This is the first study to shed light on the role of social media in the lives of intellectually gifted adolescents and their peer relationships. As some gifted adolescents struggle with aspects of their social lives, it is important to understand whether social media use can either hinder or promote this group in their ability to establish successful peer relationships (see Figure 1 for conceptual model).
The aim of the study is thus threefold. Given the contrasting perspectives on gifted adolescents and their peer relationships, the first aim is to understand which of these perspectives is most likely to characterize this special group of youth. The second aim is to map their social media use and thus assess which social media types are typically used by gifted adolescents. In order to do so, a preliminary pilot study is conducted to develop a valid instrument to measure the use of the fourteen separate and seven overarching social media types (see Appendix A). As previous studies are rather narrow in scope and focus
predominantly on the use of a single social media type, such an instrument has not been developed yet. The third aim of the study connects the previous two aims as it assesses how
Social Media Use of Gifted Adolescents
Online:
- Perceived Social Support - Friendship Initiation Offline:
- Perceived Social Support - Friendship Initiation Motive to communicate
through social media
Aspects of peer relationships
Social Compensation Motive (moderator)
RQ1 + H1
H2 + H3 H4
the social media use of gifted adolescents relates to their offline and online perceived social support and friendship initiation. In addition to investigating these direct relationships, the role of the social compensation motive is taken into account. Phrased differently, do those gifted adolescents who use online communication to compensate for their offline social skills particularly benefit from social media use? The current paper reports on the separate results of the pilot study and the main study and concludes with an overall discussion of the findings.
Pilot Study
The pilot study was aimed at the development of a valid instrument to map social media use (i.e., Extensive Social Media Measure). Previous studies showed that individual differences included in the big five model (Goldberg, 1990) are associated with frequency of social media use as well as certain behaviours on social media (e.g., Correa et al., 2010; Hughes, Rowe, Batey, & Lee, 2012). Four individual differences that are known to be associated with social media use are highlighted here, namely curiosity, conscientiousness, extraversion and loneliness. The correlations between these individual differences and social media use are used to establish the construct validity of the instrument.
First, studies observed positive associations between openness to experiences and certain aspects of social media use. Individuals who were more open to experiences not only reported more frequent use of instant messaging and social networking sites (Correa et al., 2010), but also tended to be more sociable through Facebook (Ross, Orr, Sisic, Arseneault, Simmering, & Orr, 2009). As the personality trait openness to experience is reflected in curiosity (Costa & McCrae, 1985), higher levels of curiosity are expected to be associated with higher levels of overall social media use.
The second individual difference, conscientiousness, has received less attention so far in the context of social media use. Based on two studies that did cover this individual
conscientiousness and overall social media. Namely, although conscientiousness showed positive associations with the use of Twitter for informational purposes, it negatively related to its use for socialising purposes (Hughes et al., 2012). Moreover, users with high levels of conscientiousness were found to spend less time on Facebook than those who were less conscientious (Ryan & Xenos, 2011).
Third, studies showed differences between the social media use of extraverted and less extraverted people. For instance, Facebook users tended to be more extraverted in comparison to non-users (Ryan & Xenos, 2011). Moreover, positive associations were found between sociability, a characteristic that reflects extraversion, and the use of Facebook and Twitter for socialising purposes (Hughes et al., 2012). Thus, a positive association is predicted between extraversion and overall social media use, with those who show higher levels of extraversion also reporting more frequent overall social media use.
Lastly, a review study showed that the link between loneliness and social media use is complex (Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, 2012). Facebook users who directly interacted with other users through wall posts, comments or ‘likes’ showed lowered feelings of loneliness, while those who particularly used Facebook to browse through the content of other users showed increased levels of loneliness (Burke et al., 2010). Additionally, individuals who self-reported to be lonely communicated more often online to meet new people than those who were not lonely (Bonetti, Campbell, & Gilmore, 2010). Based on these mixed findings, it seems most reasonable to expect a non-uniform pattern of associations of loneliness with different social media types. For instance, grounded by the latter finding by Bonetti et al. (2010), social media types that are characterized by contact between strangers (e.g., virtual worlds, applications aimed at contact with strangers) are expected show positive associations with loneliness, whereas for social media types characterized by contact between
acquaintances (e.g., instant messaging, personal social networking sites) the opposite is predicted.
The construct validity of the Extensive Social Media Measure is assessed through the predicted correlations between the four individual differences and social media use.
Additionally, in order to assess the overall clarity and exhaustiveness of the instrument, the pilot study addressed these aspects as well.
Method Sample and Procedure
In February 2015 a 15 minute survey was administrated among Dutch emerging adults (N = 50) ages 19 to 26 years (M = 22.54, SD = 1.61). This survey received approval from the Ethical Committee of the University of Amsterdam in December 2014. The final sample consisted of 20% males and 80% females. The respondents were recruited through several social networking sites. After they had signed an online informed consent form, they completed the online survey.
Measures
Social media use. Social media use was measured by the frequency with which the respondents actively used the fourteen separate social media types during the past month (see Appendix B for items). Some of these types were eventually merged to result in the seven overarching social media types: Instant Messaging Applications, Social Networking Platforms, Public Chatrooms / Forums, Blogsites, Virtual Worlds, Content Sharing
Communities and Knowledge Spaces (see Appendix A). The overall social media use was assessed by the average of the fourteen separate items.
Active use was operationalized as the online creation or sharing of content and
communication with other users (e.g., ‘liking’ on Facebook and commenting). Fourteen items with similar phrasing, but with the focus on different social media types, were included. These
items were each supported by examples of the social media type and examples of active use. Item example: ‘During the past month, how often did you actively use instant messaging applications that allow you to send messages to people?’ (e.g., Whatsapp, Kik Messenger, Telegram, Snapchat, Oovoo). Examples of active use: ‘Sending pictures or messages through Whatsapp’ and ‘Sending Snapchats to a friend’. Response categories were ordinal and ranged from 0 (never) to 6 (multiple times a day).
Individual differences. Curiosity, conscientiousness and extraversion were measured by subscales of the simplified HEXACO Personality Inventory (de Vries & Born, 2013), which is an improved Dutch version of the big five model (Goldberg, 1990). The
measurement level of the scales was ordinal and response categories ranged from 1 (totally
disagree) to 5 (totally agree).
Curiosity. Curiosity was measured by four items that constitute a subscale of the
openness scale (α = .64, M = 3.45, SD = 0.69). Item example: ‘I like to read about new scientific discoveries’.
Conscientiousness. Conscientiousness was measured by four items. Item example: ‘If
something is hard, I give up easily’. The four items formed a reliable scale (α = .67, M = 3.56,
SD = 0.62).
Extraversion. The level of extraversion was measured by two subscales, namely social
bravery (α = .79, M = 3.20, SD = 0.78) and sociability (α = .70, M = 3.40, SD = 0.62). Item examples: ‘I feel uncomfortable in an unfamiliar group’ (social bravery), ‘I prefer being on my own’ (sociability).
Loneliness. Loneliness was measured by a short version of the UCLA Loneliness
Scale (Russell, 1996), which was successfully applied in previous studies (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007). Respondents were asked to indicate how often during the past six months they had experienced the feelings reflected by the items. Item example: ‘I feel like nobody really
knows me well’. Responses to these items ranged from 0 (never) to 5 (always). The five items formed a reliable scale (α = .78, M = 1.95, SD = 0.64).
Evaluation of instrument. The clarity of each item in the Extensive Social Media Measure was measured by the question ‘To what extent was clear to you what was meant by the social media type reflected in the item?’, with response categories 0 (unclear), 1 (slightly
clear), 2 (clear). The exhaustiveness of the instrument was assessed by the open item ‘Which
social media platforms did you miss in the survey?’. Results Descriptives Extensive Social Media Measure
Descriptive statistics for the use of the seven overarching types and overall social media use are shown in Table 1. See Appendix C for an overview of the descriptives of the fourteen separate items. Among the sample of emerging adults, instant messaging applications (M = 5.78, SD = 0.68) were the most frequently used social media type, followed by content sharing communities (M = 1.19, SD = 1.60) and social networking platforms (M = 1.06, SD = 0.75). For these three social media types, a minority of respondents indicated that they never used these types during the past month (respectively 0%, 36% and 2%). Knowledge spaces (M = 0.36, SD = 1.15), virtual worlds (M = 0.12, SD = 0.40) and public chatrooms and forums (M = 0.05, SD = 0.15) were the least frequently used social media types. A vast majority of respondents indicated that they never used these social media types during the past month (respectively 90%, 88% and 84%).
Independent-samples t-tests were performed to assess gender differences in the social media use of the respondents. The overall social media use was higher for males than females,
t(48) = 1.98, p = .053, 95% CI [-0.01, 0.75]. Males also reported more frequent use of virtual
worlds, t(9.01) = 2.41, p = .039, 95% CI [0.04, 1.10], and content sharing communities,
Table 1
Descriptives Social Media Items: Means (SD) and Gender Differences
Observed Range % Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Min Max Never Overall Men Women
Overarching Social Media Types
Instant Messaging Applications 3.00 6.00 0 5.78 (0.68) 5.60 (0.84) 5.83 (0.64) Social Networking Platforms 0.00 2.80 2 1.06 (0.75) 0.92 (0.84) 1.09 (0.73) Public Chatrooms / Forums 0.00 0.50 90 0.05 (0.15) 0.15 (0.24) 0.03 (0.11) †
Blogsites 0.00 6.00 76 0.44 (1.15) 0.30 (0.95) 0.48 (1.21) Virtual Worlds 0.00 2.00 88 0.12 (0.40) 0.58 (0.75) 0.01 (0.04) **
Evaluation Instrument
For each of the fourteen social media items, a vast majority of the respondents reported a high level of clarity of the social media type reflected in the item. On a scale that ranged from 0 (unclear) to 2 (clear), all fourteen items received scores that approximated the maximum (M = 1.87, SD = 0.16). Respondents reported a limited number of social media platforms that were absent in the survey. The two platforms that were addressed, namely Magnet.me and Yammer, were included in the main study as additional examples of professional social networking sites.
Construct Validity
Bivariate analyses using Spearman’s rank order correlation (two-tailed) were performed to establish the associations between social media use and curiosity, conscientiousness, extraversion and loneliness (see Table 2).
Knowledge Spaces 0.00 6.00 84 0.36 (1.15) 0.25 (0.42) 0.39 (1.27)
Total
Overall Social Media Use 1.46 3.77 0 2.42 (0.55) 2.72 (0.50) 2.34 (0.53) *
Note 1. Gender differences: †p < .15, * p < .10, **, p < .05, based on independent-samples t-tests.
Note 2. Responses ranged from 0 to 6 with 0 (never), 0.50 (1-2 times a month), 1 (once a week), 2 (twice a week), 3 (3-4 times a week), 4 (almost every day), 5 (once a day), 6 (multiple times a day).
Note 3. Social Networking Platforms: Professional SNS, Personal SNS, Gifted SNS, Twitter, Location Sharing
Applications and Applications Contact Strangers. Virtual Worlds: Entertaining Virtual Worlds and Educational Virtual Worlds. Content Sharing Communities: Media Sharing Platforms and News/Info Sharing Platforms. Overall Social Media Use: Average of fourteen separate social media types.
Table 2
Correlations (rs) Individual Differences and Social Media Use
Curiosity Conscien-tiousness Social Bravery (Extraversion) Sociability (Extraversion) Loneliness Overarching Social Media Types
Instant Messaging Applications .12 -.09 .16 .03 .16
First, a positive correlation was predicted between curiosity and overall social media use. Although the association was not significant, the direction of the relationship was indeed as expected, rs = .20, p = .170. Especially the use of the overarching category virtual worlds, rs = .36, p = .010, showed a high correlation with curiosity. The use of content sharing
communities was marginally significantly related to curiosity, rs = .24, p = .100. Individuals
who reported high levels of curiosity were thus particularly likely to use these specific social media types.
Second, while conscientiousness was expected to negatively relate to overall social media use, an opposite correlation was found, rs = .20, p = .175. This positive correlation may
be partly due to the high association between conscientiousness and the use of the separate social media type professional social networking sites (see Appendix C), rs = .33, p = .021,
which was not explicitly predicted but well explainable.
Third, the predicted positive correlations were found between extraversion and overall social media use. Especially social bravery was highly correlated with overall social media use, rs = .29, p = .039. Individuals who reported high levels of social bravery were
particularly likely to frequently use the overarching type blogsites, rs = .33, p = .018.
Public Chatrooms / Forums .20 .02 -.11 -.15 .02
Blogsites -.01 -.04 .33** .05 .01
Virtual Worlds .36*** .05 -.21† -.24* .06
Content Sharing Communities .24† .13 .05 -.08 -.08
Knowledge Spaces .00 .00 -.01 -.01 -.11
Total
Overall Social Media Use .21 .20 .29** .15 -.03
Note 1. †p < .15, * p < .10, ** p < .05, *** p <.01
Note 2. Social Networking Platforms: Professional SNS, Personal SNS, Gifted SNS, Twitter, Location Sharing
Applications and Applications Contact Strangers. Virtual Worlds: Entertaining Virtual Worlds and Educational Virtual Worlds. Content Sharing Communities: Media Sharing Platforms and News/Info Sharing Platforms. Overall Social Media Use: Average of fourteen separate social media types.
Individuals who were highly sociable particularly tended to use social networking platforms frequently, given the marginally significant correlation, rs = .25, p = .081. An opposite
relationship was found for communication through virtual worlds, rs = -.24, p = .093.
Lastly, based on the mixed previous findings with regards to loneliness and social media use, no uniform pattern of associations was predicted between loneliness and different social media types. The use of the seven overarching types as well as the fourteen separate social media types (see Appendix C) showed an overall pattern of relatively small
correlations. The use of applications aimed at contact with strangers showed the expected positive relationship with loneliness, rs = .29, p = .043. Individuals who self-reported high
levels of loneliness were thus more prone to use applications aimed at contact with strangers than individuals who experienced low levels of loneliness.
Conclusion
The aim of the pilot study was to develop a valid instrument to measure the frequency of use of a variety of social media types (i.e., Extensive Social Media Measure), as such an instrument had not been developed yet. Overall, the general descriptives of the social media items showed relatively few unexpected or deviating patterns and the instrument was evaluated as clear and exhaustive.
The construct validity of the instrument was supported by its consistency with previous studies. Apart from conscientiousness, the expected pattern of the associations between overall social media use and individual differences based on previous studies (e.g., Ryan & Xenos, 2011; Hughes et al., 2012) generally held within this study, which contributes to the evidence of construct validity. Previous studies focused mainly on the link between conscientiousness and more ‘traditional’ forms of technology based communication, such as SMS (Butt & Philips, 2008). As such, it is reasonable that this individual difference may relate in a different manner to newer types of social media, such as those measured in the
current study. Additionally, although the findings generally suggest that social media are used frequently by those who possess high levels of sociability, virtual worlds seem to be an important exception here. This deviating finding is not surprising given the unique nature of this social media type.
Some of the correlations found between the separate fourteen separate social media types and individual differences were consistent with earlier studies as well. For instance, the positive association found between loneliness and the use of applications aimed at contact with strangers is in accordance with a study that concluded that relatively lonely individuals were prone to communicate with strangers through instant messaging (Gross, Juvonen, & Gable, 2002). A positive association between curiosity and communication through
entertaining virtual worlds was found earlier by Graham and Gosling (2013), who concluded that those who are open to experience are more likely to play World of Warcraft for
socializing motives.
Main Study
The main study consisted of a survey that was part of a larger research project of the University of Amsterdam that addressed the overall digital media use of intellectually gifted adolescents. The study received approval by the Ethical Committee of the University of Amsterdam. In the main study, the Extensive Social Media Measure developed by means of the pilot study was used to investigate the overall social media use of gifted adolescents. Additionally, the main study addressed the relationship between the social media use of gifted adolescents and their peer relationships.
Method Sample
In May and June 2015 a survey was administrated among 133 gifted adolescents ages 11 to 17 years (M = 13.31, SD = 1.38). Within this sample, 62% were boys (N = 83) and 38% were girls (N = 50). Respondents were recruited from three schools in the Netherlands that belonged to a nationwide association for schools that offer approved education specifically aimed at intellectually gifted students. The majority of respondents (67%) indicated that their IQ level had been established by a test. Parents received a passive parental consent form through email and post, after which respondents completed an online survey in their school- or home environment.
Measures
Social media use. The frequency with which gifted adolescents used social media was measured by the Extensive Social Media Measure as developed in the pilot study (see
Appendix B). This measure consists of fourteen items that addresses the frequency of use of the fourteen separate social media types. Some of these types were merged to result in the seven overarching social media types (see Appendix A). Response categories ranged from 0 (never) to 6 (multiple times a day). The fourteen separate items were averaged to form an overall social media use scale (M = 1.17, SD = 0.63).
Perceived offline and online social support. A Dutch translation of the Social Support Scale for Children (Harter, 1985) was used to measure the perceived social support from friends. Perceived offline social support was measured by a subset of four slightly
adapted items, with response categories 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree). Item example: ‘I have a real friend who really understands me’. The four items loaded on one factor that explained 85% of the variance (α = .94, M = 4.00, SD = 1.05). Identical items were used to measure perceived online social support, but here it was emphasized that the items were about relationships that existed online exclusively. The four items loaded on one factor that
Offline friendship initiation. Frequency of offline friendship initiation was measured by five items that constituted the initiation subscale of an overarching social competence scale (Koutamanis et al., 2013). Response categories ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). Item example: ‘During the past six months, how often did you introduce yourself to someone?’. The five items loaded on one factor that explained 56% of the variance (α = .80, M = 2.41, SD = 0.75).
Online friendship initiation. Frequency of online friendship initiation was measured the Online Initiation Scale (Vossen, n.d.). Five items were included with response categories that ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). Item example: ‘During the past six months, how often did you send a message through social media to someone you did not know very well?’. The five items loaded on one factor that explained 59% of the variance (α = .80, M = 1.89, SD = 0.81).
Social compensation motive. The extent to which gifted adolescents used online communication to compensate for their offline social skills was measured by a slightly adjusted subscale of the Motives for Internet-Based Identity Experiments scale (Valkenburg, Schouten, & Peter, 2005). The social compensation motive was measured by a subscale that consists four items with response categories 0 (never), 1 (sometimes), 2 (always). Item example: ‘If I communicate online, I do this to feel less shy’. The items loaded on one factor that explained 71% of the variance (α = .85, M = 0.41, SD = 0.50).
Analytical Approach
The program IBM SPSS Statistics (version 20) was used to conduct statistical analyses. Descriptives statistics and t-tests were performed to map the general social
characteristics and social media use. The macro PROCESS (Hayes, 2012) was used to address the relationships between social media use and peer relationships. As gender showed zero-order correlations with multiple other variables (see Appendix D), this variable was included
as a moderator in all the models to explore if relationships were potentially different for boys and girls. Furthermore, all other variables that correlated with the dependent variable were controlled for. For instance, in case of perceived offline social support as outcome variable, the model controlled for offline friendship initiation and online friendship initiation. All models using PROCESS performed bootstrapping.
Model 1 (Hayes, 2012) was used to address the direct relationships as posited in RQ1 and H1 and to examine if these relationships were different across gender. Model 3 (Hayes, 2012) was used to address the direct and moderated relationships between social media use, social compensation motive, gender and perceived online social support and online friendship initiation (H2, H3 and H4). To further specify the links between social media use and peer relationships, Model 1 (Hayes, 2012) was run for each of the four aspects of peer relationships as outcome variable and each of the seven overarching and fourteen separate social media types as predictor. The use of the remaining social media types was controlled for.
Results General Social Characteristics
Offline peer relationships. On a scale that ranged from one to five, respondents scored relatively high on perceived offline social support (M = 4.00, SD = 1.05). Girls (M = 4.32, SD = 0.90) perceived significantly higher levels of offline social support than boys (M = 3.81, SD = 1.10), t(130) = -2.75, p = .007, 95% CI [-0.87, -0.14]. Generally, respondents’ levels of offline friendship initiation (M = 2.41, SD = 0.75) were significantly lower than their levels of perceived offline social support (M = 4.00, SD = 1.06), t(130) = 16.18, p = .004, 95% CI [1.40, 1.79]. Levels of offline friendship initiation did not differ across gender, t(129) = -0.69, p = .489, 95% CI [-0.36, 0.17].
Both variables, perceived offline social support and offline friendship initiation, were dichotomized to result in two groups, namely those who scored 1 through 2 (below average) and 3 through 5 (average or above). A vast majority of respondents (94%) showed average or higher levels of perceived offline social support, whereas the percentage of respondents showing average or higher levels of offline friendship initiation was slightly lower (66%).
Online peer relationships. Paired-samples t-tests showed that respondents scored substantially lower on the two online aspects of peer relationships. Levels of perceived online social support (M = 1.83, SD = 1.29) were substantially lower than levels of perceived offline social support (M = 4.00, SD = 1.05), t(131) = 16.02, p < .001, 95% CI [1.90, 2.44]. A
significant difference was found for friendship initiation as well, t(130) = 7.67, p < .001, 95% CI [0.38, 0.65], with respondents’ scoring lower levels of online friendship initiation (M = 1.89, SD = 0.81) compared to offline friendship initiation (M = 2.41, SD = 0.75).
While boys and girls did not differ in their levels of perceived online social support,
t(130) = -0.03, p = .980, 95% CI [-0.47, 0.45], girls (M = 2.09, SD = 0.83) did show higher
levels of online friendship initiation than boys (M = 1.77, SD = 0.78), t(129) = -2.28, p = .024, 95% CI [-0.61, -0.04]. Perceived online social support and online friendship initiation were also dichotomized to result in two groups, namely those who scored 1 through 2 (below
average) and 3 through 5 (average or above). In contrast to the offline aspects of peer
relationships, a minority of respondents showed average or higher levels of perceived online social support (28%) and online friendship initiation (34%).
Intellectually Gifted Adolescents’ Social Media Use
Descriptive statistics for the use of the seven overarching types of social media and overall social media use are shown in Table 3. See Appendix D for an overview of the descriptives of the fourteen separate items. Among the sample of gifted adolescents, instant messaging applications (M = 4.53, SD = 1.91) were the most frequently used social media
type, followed by content sharing communities (M = 2.40, SD = 1.64) and virtual worlds (M
= 0.97, SD = 1.10). For these three social media types, a minority of respondents indicated
that they had never used these types during the past month (respectively 4%, 17% and 38%). Knowledge spaces (M = 0.11, SD = 0.42), public chatrooms and forums (M = 0.47, SD = 1.12) and blogsites (M = 0.62, SD = 1.43) were the least frequently used social media types. A vast majority of respondents indicated that they had never used these social media types during the past month (respectively 90%, 72% and 75%).
Independent-samples t-tests were performed to assess gender differences in the social media use of the gifted adolescents. Girls (M = 1.27, SD = 1.94) used blogsites more often than boys (M = 0.22, SD = 0.79), t(58.98) = -3.63, p = .001, 95% CI [-1.52 -0.57]. Girls (M = 0.81, SD = 0.61) also reported more frequent use of social networking platforms than boys (M
= 0.57, SD = 0.70), t(131) = -2.02, p = .045, 95% CI [-0.48, 0.00]. Boys (M = 1.25, SD =
1.10) on the other hand communicated more often through virtual worlds than girls (M = 0.50, SD = 0.94), t(115.81) = 4.18, p < .001, 95% CI [0.37, 1.11]. From the separate fourteen social media types, girls (M = 3.24, SD = 2.15) especially tended to use personal social
networking sites more often than boys (M = 1.99, SD = 2.30), t(131) = -3.12, p = .002, 95% CI [-2.05, -0.46]. Boys (M = 1.25, SD = 1.10) communicated more often through
entertaining virtual worlds than girls (M = 0.50, SD = 0.94), t(115.81) = 4.18, p < .001, 95% CI [0.40, 1.11].
Observed Range % Mean (SD) Mean (SD)
Min Max Never Overall Boys Girls
Overarching Social Media Types
Instant Messaging Applications 0.00 6.00 4 4.53 (1.91) 4.46 (1.91) 4.66 (1.90) Social Networking Platforms 0.00 3.17 20 0.66 (0.67) 0.57 (0.70) 0.81 (0.61)**
Table 3
Descriptives Social Media Items: Means (SD) and Gender Differences
Social Media Use and Offline Peer Relationships
Perceived offline social support. The first research question aimed at exploring the relationship between social media use and perceived offline social support. No direct
relationship was found between overall social media use and perceived offline social support,
b = .13, SE = .21, t = 0.63, p = .530, 95% CI [-0.28, 0.54]. The interaction between social
media use and gender was also insignificant, b = .14, SE = .27, t = 0.52, p = .604, 95% CI [-0.40, 0.68], which indicates that for both boys and girls overall social media use and
perceived offline social support were unrelated. No links were found for overarching or separate social media types as well.
Offline friendship initiation. In contrast to what was predicted in the first hypothesis, no direct relationship was found between overall social media use and offline friendship initiation, b = -.08, SE = .13 t = -0.66, p = .510, 95% CI [-0.33, 0.17]. The two-way
interaction between social media use and gender was also insignificant, b = -0.29, SE = .23, t Public Chatrooms / Forums 0.00 6.00 72 0.47 (1.12) 0.50 (1.12) 0.41 (1.14) Blogsites 0.00 6.00 75 0.62 (1.43) 0.22 (0.79) 1.27 (1.94)***
Virtual Worlds 0.00 3.00 38 0.97 (1.10) 1.25 (1.10) 0.50 (0.94)***
Content Sharing Communities 0.00 5.50 17 2.40 (1.64) 2.53 (1.64) 2.17 (1.63) Knowledge Spaces 0.00 3.00 90 0.11 (0.42) 0.09 (0.41) 0.14 (0.44)
Total
Overall Social Media Use 0.00 3.57 2 1.17 (0.63) 1.16 (0.64) 1.19 (0.63)
Note 1. Gender differences: * p < .10, **, p < .05, *** p < .01, based on independent-samples t-tests. Note 2. Responses ranged from 0 to 6 with 0 (never), 0.50 (1-2 times a month), 1 (once a week), 2 (twice a week), 3 (3-4 times a week), 4 (almost every day), 5 (once a day), 6 (multiple times a day).
Note 3. Social Networking Platforms: Professional SNS, Personal SNS, Gifted SNS, Twitter, Location Sharing
Applications and Applications Contact Strangers. Virtual Worlds: Entertaining Virtual Worlds and Educational Virtual Worlds. Content Sharing Communities: Media Sharing Platforms and News/Info Sharing Platforms. Overall Social Media Use: Average of fourteen separate social media types.
= -1.26, p = .209, 95% CI [-0.74, 0.16]. The use of instant messaging applications interacted with gender, b = -0.14, SE = .07, t = -2.22, p = .029, 95% CI [-0.27, -0.02]. For girls a higher use of instant messaging applications related to lower levels of offline friendship initiation, b = -0.11, SE = .05, t = -2.24, p = .027, 95% CI [-0.21, -0.01], while for boys no link was visible, b = 0.03, SE = .05, t = 0.69, p = .489, 95% CI [-0.06, 0.13]. Moreover, the use of the separate social media type professional social networking sites showed a negative link for both boys and girls, b = -0.10, SE = .05, t = -2.19, p = .031, 95% CI [-0.19, -0.01]. As the expected positive relationship between social media use and offline friendship initiation was not found, hypothesis one was not supported.
Social Media Use and Online Peer Relationships
Perceived online social support. As predicted in hypothesis three, the social media use of gifted adolescents positively related to their perceived online social support, b = 0.64,
SE = .23, t = 2.77, p = .006, 95% CI [0.18, 1.10]. Individuals who reported frequent overall
social media use were thus also likely to perceive high levels of online social support. The interaction between gender and overall social media use was not significant, b = .29, SE = .39,
t = 0.75, p = .457, 95% CI [-0.48, 1.07].
One overarching social media type showed a substantial direct link with perceived online social support, namely virtual worlds, b = .41, SE = .14, t = 2.93, p = .004, 95% CI [0.13, 0.69]. From the fourteen separate social media types, the use of gifted social
networking sites, b = .61, SE = .30, t = 2.03, p = .045, 95% CI [0.01, 1.21], and entertaining virtual worlds, b = .21, SE = .08, t = 2.50, p = .014, 95% CI [0.04, 0.37], positively related to perceived online social support. Individuals who used these social media types frequently were thus likely to perceive higher levels of online social support.
Online friendship initiation. In accordance with hypothesis two, social media use positively related to online friendship initiation, b = 0.57, SE = .11, t = 5.21, p < .001, 95% CI
[0.35, 0.78]. The interaction between gender and overall social media use was not significant,
b = 0.22, SE = .21, t = 1.04, p = .301, 95% CI [-0.20, 0.63]. Thus, boys as well as girls who
often used social media were likely to use online communication to support their friendship initiation.
One overarching social media type showed a direct positive relation to online
friendship initiation, namely social networking platforms, b = 0.37, t = 2.69, p = .008, 95% CI [0.10, 0.65]. From the fourteen separate social media types, the use of personal social
networking sites, b = 0.08, SE = .03, t = 2.45, p = .015, 95% CI [0.02, 0.14], and applications aimed at contact with strangers, b = 0.18, SE = .08 t = 2.32, p = .022, 95% CI [0.03, 0.34], positively related to online friendship initiation. As such, especially those who often used these social media types were likely to initiate friendships in an online environment. Social Media and Online Peer Relationships: Role of Social Compensation Motive
In contrast to what was predicted in hypothesis four, the relationship between social media use and perceived online social support was not moderated by adolescents’ social compensation motive, given the insignificant interaction between overall social media use and the social compensation motive, b = .57, SD = .46, t = 1.25, p = .214, 95% CI [-0.34, 1.48]. The three-way interaction between overall social media use, social compensation motive and gender was also insignificant, b = .56, SE = .84, t = 0.67, p = .503, 95% CI [-1.10, 2.23].
Similarly, the relationship between overall social media use and online friendship initiation was not moderated by the social compensation motive, b = 0.28, SE = .24, t = -1.16, p = .247, 95% CI [-0.76, 0.20], and this insignificant moderation applied to boys as well as girls, b = 0.09, SE = .06, t = 0.21, p = .832, 95% CI [-0.77, 0.95].
Discussion
This study was the first to shed light on the relationship between the social media use of intellectually gifted adolescents and their peer relationships. Although previous studies covered the social lives of gifted adolescents (e.g., Pfeiffer & Stocking, 2000; Reis &
Renzulli, 2004), none of these studies focused on its relationship with social media, nor did they investigate online peer relationships.
Are Gifted Adolescents Socially Resilient or Socially at Risk?
Given the contrasting perspectives on gifted adolescents and their peer relationships, the first aim of the study was to understand how gifted adolescents experienced their own peer relationships. In general, the findings indicate that the gifted social risk perspective might draw a too pessimistic image of gifted adolescents and their offline peer relationships. Namely, a vast majority of gifted adolescents in this study perceived average or higher levels of offline social support, which supports the gifted social resilience perspective.
Levels of friendship initiation were somewhat lower than perceived social support, which may evidence the gifted social risk perspective that suggests that gifted adolescents struggle with their friendship initiation as a result of the absence of like-minded peers (Pfeiffer & Stocking, 2000; Robinson, 2008). However, perhaps it is more likely that gifted adolescents, consciously or not, choose quality over quantity with regards to their peer relationships. This study measured perceived social support by the extent to which respondents had a ‘real’ friend with whom they could share their problems. As gifted
adolescents seek close and intimate relationships at a younger age than their non-gifted peers (Gross, 2004), lower levels of friendship initiation seem to indicate that their existing peer relationships already fulfil their social needs and friendship expectations.
Gifted adolescents perceived their online peer relationships less favourable than their offline relationships, which might point at the direction of both perspectives. In accordance with the gifted social resilience perspective, those gifted adolescents who struggle to establish friendships in an offline environment might encounter similar difficulties online. However, it may also be well possible that the offline peer relationships of gifted adolescents meet their social needs and as a result, the urge to turn to social media for their peer relationships might
be absent. In this sense, gifted adolescents do not seem to differ substantially from regular adolescents, who also indicated that they had initiated more offline friendships than online friendships (Reich, Subrahmanyan, & Espinoza, 2012).
Thus, consistent with what was proposed earlier in this study, it seems most legitimate to balance the gifted social resilience perspective and the gifted social risk perspective. Given the discrepancy that exists between gifted adolescents’ perceptions of offline and online peer relationships, the findings of this study strongly highlight the importance to distinguish between both aspects when drawing conclusions about the social lives of gifted adolescents. At the same time, given the fact that there is a small group of gifted youth that might be in need for more social support or experiences difficulties to initiate friendships, it is certainly valuable to shed light on this specific group.
Intellectually Gifted Adolescents’ Social Media Use
The second aim of the study was to map the social media use of gifted adolescents. Interestingly, the gifted adolescents in this study barely visited online platforms tailored to gifted users, while the use of this specific social media type was beneficial in terms of perceived online social support. They did however use a wide variety of other social media types and thus diversified their social media use, just like non-gifted adolescents (cf. Lenhart, 2015). Instead of merely using more traditional social media types, such as chatrooms or forums, gifted adolescents shift their use to newer forms of social media as well, such as virtual worlds and content sharing communities. While it is suggested that research on
adolescents’ online practices in general should apply a broader approach towards social media (cf. Grimes & Fields, 2012), the same thus applies to research on gifted adolescents’ online practices. In order to fully understand the role of social media in their peer relationships, but also in other life-aspects such as their education, future research should take into account the wide range of social media types gifted adolescents use.
Although this study did not directly compare the social media use of gifted and non-gifted adolescents, the findings suggest that non-gifted adolescents do not differ drastically from their non-gifted peers in terms of their social media practices. Practically all adolescents in this study used social media (98%), which is conform the 96% of Dutch fifteen-year-old adolescents who use social media (Boekee, Engels, & van der Veer, 2015). Consistent with recent research among non-gifted adolescents (Lenhart, 2015), girls in the current study reported more frequent use of social networking sites, while boys tended to use virtual worlds more often. Moreover, the frequent use of content sharing communities is in accordance with studies that suggest that among Dutch non-gifted adolescents the use of platforms such as Pinterest increases (Boekee et al., 2015). Thus, while gifted adolescents may differ from their non-gifted peers in terms of other characteristics, they seem to be fairly similar to regular adolescents in the context of their social media practices. Future research could systematically compare gifted adolescents and non-gifted adolescents to address this assumption.
Social Media Use and Peer Relationships
The third and last aim of this study was to understand how gifted adolescents’ social media use related to their offline and online perceived social support and friendship initiation. In general, the findings indicate that gifted adolescents benefit from social media use
primarily in terms of online peer relationships.
Social media use and offline peer relationships. To begin with, while previous studies found both positive and negative links between social media use and offline social support (Longman et al., 2009; Shaw & Gant, 2002), the current study showed no association with perceived offline social support. A possible explanation for this null finding might be that the gifted adolescents in this study generally perceived high levels of offline social support and as such, a need to turn to social media for social support might be absent. Additionally, although previous studies described the affordances of special support groups
for specific societal groups (Wright & Bell, 2003), this study showed that platforms that were uniquely tailored to gifted users were barely used by gifted adolescents. As such platforms may constitute sources of online social support, future research could further investigate whether these social media platforms may be especially beneficial for those who lack social support in their offline environment. Additionally, a valuable direction for future research is to investigate why these social media platforms aimed at gifted users are barely used by gifted adolescents, despite their potential benefits.
Second, the Internet-induced social skills hypothesis (Koutamanis et al., 2013) guided the expectation that gifted adolescents who often used social media would be more likely to initiate offline friendships. Although it was assumed that individuals were able to ‘practice’ their offline social skills by means of their online communication, this study did not yield support for this notion. Namely, the use of social media in general and the use of neither of separate or overarching social media types related to offline friendship initiation. An explanation for this inconsistency may be that the current study controlled for perceived offline social support, online friendship initiation and the social compensation motive, while this was not the case in the study of Koutamanis et al. (2013). Moreover, given the positive zero-order correlation between overall social media use and offline friendship initiation, it might be possible that the study yielded initial evidence for the Internet-induced skills hypothesis, but that no significant association was found due to the design of the study. Namely, studies that did find direct or indirect support for the Internet-induced skills hypothesis (i.e., Koutamanis et al., 2013; Visser et al., 2013) selected substantially larger samples, which may have contributed to the statistical power of these studies.
Social media use and online peer relationships. While no links were found between social media use and the offline social lives of gifted adolescents, social media use did relate to their online peer relationships. This study thus obtained initial evidence that gifted
