Online Relations and Its Effect on the Development of Adolescent Females
























Introduction

The worldwide web, inspired by perfection, consists of a virtual reality that can be considered an escape from the real world to many. Young adults often turn to this virtual reality to look for interactions with those whom they do not know. Others use the web to connect with known peers and strengthen their real life friendships. Many observers view these online friendships to be detrimental to the growth and development of adolescents, specifically females.
However, many other observers find online social interactions to be a catalyst for their development. The question that resides within these two controversial theories is: Do online friendships impair development for adolescent girls?
Harmful Effects of Online Friendships
Online friendships are shown to be detrimental to adolescent development through various aspects. One aspect includes how the growing convenience of technology correlates with the amount of internet usage to communicate with strangers causing internet addiction, according to Smahel, Brown and Blinka (2012). Additionally, Heino, Lintonen & Rimpela (2004) claim that “some adolescents reported a potentially harmful relationship with the Internet comparable to addictive disorders”. There are also certain variables that determine the effects of online relationships such as whether or not the online recipient is “responsive and supportive”, indicating that otherwise may lead to negative experiences (Valkenburg, 2007). These aspects not only lead to the impairment of the development of female adolescents, but also can be caused by negative independent variables such as “youth who were highly troubled, reported high parent-child conflict or low communication with parents, or who engaged in a high degree of delinquent behaviour” (Wolak, Mitchell and Finkelhor, 2003).
Beneficial Effects of Online Friendships
Although these points do bring some concern towards the harmful effects online friendships pose to adolescent girls, there are beneficial values of friendships made or continued online towards their development. As young females develop into adults, their desire for social interaction increases, thus using online networking sites to stay in contact with their current peers and keep their connection strong since “girls were closer to friends and more socially anxious than were boys” (Valkenburg 2007). Online networking also helps adolescents remember their friends and stay in contact with them, further strengthening their friendships (Reich, 2012). Additionally, online friendships satisfy the need for belonging since they socialize with their friends and ‘disclose’ their feelings and personalities through the Internet (Davis 2012). According to Davis (2013),  online friendships not only benefit the development of female adolescents in the social aspect but also in the aspect of experience, knowledge, and finding one’s ‘calling’ in life itself.
Analysis
	The internet may be a source of communication and interaction with others, however there are circumstances in which such interactions can disrupt or negatively influence the development of teenage girls. A study was conducted by Griffith (2000a) that involved a survey that tested their online and offline friendships, internet addiction, self-esteem, preference for online communication and hours online at home (Smahel 2012). Since results for both genders showed similar statistics, the levels of internet addictions was shown when “about two times as many offline close friends as online friends suggest[ed] that a higher portion of online than offline associates were considered close friends (Smahel 2012). This is because the results for every area that was tested on adolescents linked to Internet addiction (Smahel 2012).
Valkenburg & Peter (2009) show, through their research, how online interactions with others are dependent on the circumstances of the recipients, and their objectives on the Internet. Online friendships cannot be considered beneficial to adolescent development if users are “socially anxious adolescents who turn to online conversation” in order to fulfill their desires for interaction (Valkenburg 2009). On top of that, Wolak, Michell & Finkelhor (2003) argue that certain variables, such as the circumstances of the adolescents, fuel their desire for close relationships online, especially females. Since females “were closer to friends and more socially anxious than were boys”, studies claim that older adolescent girls “were about twice as likely as girls who were 10-13 to form these kinds of relationships” (Valkenburg, 2007; Wolak, Michell & Finkelhor, 2003). Lastly, since “adolescents spend more time in the Internet than adolescents on the average do” according to Heino, Lintonen & Rimpela (2004), there is an impending issue with how online communication can impair adolescent development through addiction. This addiction is fueled by anxiety and desire for social interaction, which can also be caused by the circumstances of female adolescents that value their online friendships more than their offline friendships.
Looking to the Internet to find online friendships may seem to be detrimental to a developing adolescent girl when undergoing certain situations that cause her to be dependent or addicted to interacting with others online. However, online communication is capable of enhancing adolescent development for females through various aspects as well. As stated in Valkenburg & Peter’s (2007) research, “the vast majority seem to use the Internet to maintain their existing network of friends. In order to back up this claim, various aspects were studied for both genders. For example, they reasoned how “girls are lonelier than boys” and “higher levels of social anxiety than do boys” to make the implication that female adolescents are more bound to seek online friendships than guys are (Valkenburg, 2007). This helps their development process since “online communication and closeness to friends increased with age”, thus indicating that female adolescents were closer to their friends online which satisfies their needs for social interactions. In addition, studies shows that as females progress through their adolescence, “exchanging intimacy gains significance (...) intimacy and emotional support are seen as essential in friendships” (Valkenburg, 2007). Online friendships provide this intimacy and emotional support, especially when the recipients are peers known offline. Reich, Subrahmanyam & Espinoza (2012) studied how “adolescents use their time within online spaces to deal with the issues in their lives, including sexuality, identity, and partner selection”. Since female adolescents have more social anxiety, a stronger need for self-disclosure and a stronger desire for online interaction than male adolescents, continuing offline relationships through online communication strengthens the intimacy of such relationships (Reich, 2012). If not intimate, offline friendships are strengthened through social networking when adolescents “stay in touch with friends [they] do not see often” or “stay in touch with relatives” (Reich, 2012). Through Davis’s (2012) research, she further supports both Reich (2012) and Valkenburg’s (2007) claims by explaining “the characteristics that distinguish adolescents offline [which] shape their online activities” (Davis, 2012). The results of her study claim that adolescents, in general, use technology predominantly to communicate and interact with their peers. One of the most common reasons for online communication, according to the 22 participants of Davis’s (2012) study, are intimate exchanges. This implies that adolescent girls are going through development and, fueled by hormones and puberty, desire intimate interactions whether it be in person or online. Ironically, online communication claims to be more reassuring to female adolescents as they do not have to suffer social anxiety because of the anonymity of the Internet, but tend to disclose more personal information online nonetheless. Lastly, identity plays a pivotal part in the development of adolescent girls, which is why Davis (2013) further researches how the adolescents’ online friendships with family and friends affect their identity. “As adolescents begin to spend more time interacting with their friends, the peer group becomes an increasingly important source of self-definition”, Davis’s (2013) research claims. With all of the new methods of communications and social interactions in today’s society, there are various ways for adolescents to express their identity and self-disclosure without worrying about their safety, privacy or fear of disapproval.
Decision
	It is concluded that online friendships are to be considered beneficial to the development of adolescent females. This is because Internet addiction is caused by variables that are present in the lesser of two motives adolescents have to make online friends. Online interactions also help strengthen ongoing friendships offline rather than limit adolescents to talking to strangers online. Ultimately, online friendships help female adolescents develop into adulthood, being a resource for finding one’s identity and helping create intimate relationships that may cure social anxiety in many females. For these reasons, online friendships do not impair female adolescent development, but instead enhance it.

References
Smahel, D., Brown, B. B., & Blinka, L. (2012). Associations between online friendship and
 Internet addiction among adolescents and emerging adults. Developmental Psychology,
48(2), 381-388. doi:10.1037/a0027025

Kaltiala-Heino, R., Lintonen, T., & Rimpelä, A. (2004). INTERNET ADDICTION?
POTENTIALLY PROBLEMATIC USE OF THE INTERNET IN A POPULATION OF
12-18 YEAR-OLD ADOLESCENTS. Addiction Research & Theory, 12(1), 89.
doi:10.1080/1600663503100098796

Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (February 01, 2009). Social Consequences of the Internet for
Adolescents: A Decade of Research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 1, 	1-5.

Wolak, J., Mitchell, K. J., & Finkelhor, D. (2003). Escaping or connecting? Characteristics of
youth who form close online relationships. Journal of Adolescence, 26(1), 105-119.
doi:10.1016/s0140-1971(02)00114-8

Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2007). Preadolescents' and adolescents' online communication
and their closeness to friends. Developmental Psychology, 43(2), 267-277.
doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.2.267

Reich, S. M., Subrahmanyam, K., & Espinoza, G. (2012). Friending, IMing, and hanging out
face-to-face: Overlap in adolescents' online and offline social networks. Developmental Psychology, 48(2), 356-368. doi:10.1037/a0026980

Davis, K. (2012). Friendship 2.0: Adolescents' experiences of belonging and self-disclosure
online. Journal of Adolescence, 35(6), 1527-1536.
doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.02.013

Katie Davis, Young people’s digital lives: The impact of interpersonal relationships and digital
media use on adolescents’ sense of identity, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 29,
Issue 6, November 2013, Pages 2281-2293, ISSN 0747-5632,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.05.022.
	(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563213001738)