Longitudinal investigation of self-disclosure on social support in face-to-face and instant messenger communication [05.12.17]
Sabine Trepte, Philipp Masur and Michael Scharkow recently published a study on "Mutual friends’ social support and self-disclosure in face-to-face and instant messenger communication" in The Journal of Social Psychology.
In the study, we investigated long-term effects of self-disclosure on social support in face-to-face and instant messenger (IM) communication between mutual friends. In the context of our longitudinal panel study on the evoluation of privacy (Link to project page), we explored whether self-disclosure and positive experiences with regard to social support would dynamically interact in the form of a reinforcing spiral across three measurement occasions. We asked: If mutual friends self-disclose today, will they receive more social support 6 months later? In turn, will this affect their willingness to self-disclose another 6 months later? We further analyzed spill-over effects from face-to-face to IM communication and vice versa.
We found that self-disclosure predicted social support and vice versa in IM communication, but not in face-to-face communication. In light of these results, the impact of IM communication on how individuals maneuver friendships through the interplay between self-disclosure and social support are discussed.
You can download a pre-print of the article on the journal's website.
