Virtual Friendships and Social Distress among Adolescents with and without Learning Disabilities: The Subtyping Approach

Autor/inn/en	Sharabi, Adi; Margalit, Malka
Titel	Virtual Friendships and Social Distress among Adolescents with and without Learning Disabilities: The Subtyping Approach
Quelle	In: European Journal of Special Needs Education, 26 (2011) 3, S.379-394 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0885-6257
DOI	10.1080/08856257.2011.595173
Schlagwörter	Learning Disabilities; Friendship; Adolescents; Psychological Patterns; Stress Variables; Comparative Analysis; High School Students; Individual Characteristics; Social Influences; Affective Behavior; Computer Mediated Communication; Social Networks; Negative Attitudes; Internet; Predictor Variables; Foreign Countries; Factor Analysis; Self Concept; Gender Differences; Israel + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Learning handicap; Lernbehinderung; Freundschaft; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Sozialer Einfluss; Affective disturbance; Active behaviour; Affektive Störung; Computerkonferenz; Social network; Soziales Netzwerk; Negative Fixierung; Prädiktor; Ausland; Faktorenanalyse; Selbstkonzept; Geschlechterkonflikt
Abstract	Many adolescents spend time online, communicating with friends, family members and strangers, and these social activities have been often related with their loneliness experience. The goals of this study were to examine the social distress expressed by adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD) and to distinguish between unique adolescents' profiles, identified by their different types of social participation online. The sample consisted of 887 high school students, grades 10-12: 213 students with LD (110 boys, 103 girls) and 674 students without LD (334 boys, 340 girls). Students reported their loneliness, affect and two types of online social activities: online communication with people that they know, and virtual friendships with people that they have never met. As expected, students with LD reported higher levels of loneliness and negative affect. However, they did not differ in their internet social participation. Since virtual friendship was among factors that predicted loneliness, four clusters were identified among adolescents, with the loneliness measure and virtual friendships as their defining variables. By showing the complexity of the relationships within different profiles, the results demonstrated the advantages of clarifying adolescents' individual differences. (Contains 5 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10