Examining Gender Differences in Self-disclosure on Facebook Versus Face-to-Face
Keywords:
gender, self-disclosures, Facebook, social networking sitesAbstract
Previous studies have shown that women disclose to their close friends more often than men. However, no study has compared the intimacy of their disclosures across different media and different relationship types. The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in self-disclosure between Facebook friends and between face-to-face friends. One hundred ninety-seven college women and 120 college men in this study were asked to report their levels of self-disclosure with three types of friends: an exclusive Facebook friend, an exclusive face-to-face friend, and a recently added Facebook friend. One-way MANOVA was used to test the hypothesis that women will self-disclose to their Facebook and face-to-face friends more than men. Results provided partial support for the hypothesis. Women disclosed to their exclusive face-to-face friends and exclusive Facebook friends more than men; however, men had more intimate discussions with their recently added Facebook friends than women did. Both men and women disclosed more to their exclusive face-to-face friends than to exclusive Facebook friends. Overall, these findings suggest that, regardless of the medium, both genders disclose more to the person they consider more intimate.References
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Cho, S. (2006). Effects of motivations and gender on adolescents’ self-disclosure in online chatting. Paper presented at the annual meeting of International Communication Association, Dresden, Germany.
Christofides, E., Muise, A., & Desmarias, S. (2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes. Cyberpyschology & Behavior, 12, 341-45.
Collins, N. L., & Miller, L. C. (1994). Self-disclosure and liking: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 457-475.
Craig, E., Igiel, M., Wright, K., Cunningham, C., & Ploeger, N. (2007). “Will you be my friend”: Computer-mediated relational development on Facebook.com. Paper presented at the annual meeting of International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.
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Cummings, J., Butler, B., & Kraut, R. (2002). The quality of online social relationships. Communications of the ACM, 45, 103–108.
Dindia, K., & Allen, M. (1992). Gender differences in self-disclosure: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 106–124.
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Kleman, E. (2007). Journaling for the world to see: A proposed model of self-disclosure intimacy in blogs. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
Li, Q. (2006). Computer-mediated communication: A meta-analysis of male and female attitudes and behaviors. International Journal on E-Learning, 5(4), 525-570.
Mesch, G., & Talmud, I. (2006). The quality of offline and online relationships: The role of multiplexity and duration of social relationships. The Information Society, 22, 137-148. DOI: 10.1080/01972240600677805
Parks, M. R., & Floyd, K. (1996). Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Communication, 46, 1-17. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01462.x
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Pearson, J. (1981). The effects of setting and gender on self-disclosure. Group Organization Management, 6, 334-340. DOI: 10.1177/105960118100600309
Peter, J., Valkenburg, P. M., & Schouten, A. P. (2005). Developing a model of adolescent friendship formation on the internet. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8, 423-430.
Petronio, S. (2002). Boundaries of privacy: Dialectics of disclosure. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Petronio, S., Martin, J., & Littlefield, R. (1984). Prerequisite conditions for self-disclosing: A gender issue. Communication Monographs, 51, 268-73.
Riva, G. (2002). The sociocognitive psychology of computer-mediated communication: The present and future of technology-based interactions. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 5, 581-600.
Rubin, Z., & Shenker, S. (1978). Friendship, proximity and self-disclosure. Journal of Personality, 46, 1-22.
Sheldon, P. (2008). The relationship between unwillingness to communicate and students’ Facebook use. Journal of Media Psychology, 20, 67-75.
Smock, A. D., Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., & Wohn, D. Y. (2011). Facebook as a toolkit: A uses and gratification approach to unbundling feature use. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 2322-2329.
Special, W. P., & Li-Barber, K. T. (2012). Self-disclosure and student satisfaction with Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 624-630.
Steel, J. L. (1991). Interpersonal correlates of trust and self-disclosure. Psychological Reports, 68, 1319-1320.
Stern, S. (1999). Adolescent girls’ expression on WWW home pages: A qualitative analysis. Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 5, 22-41.
Stern, S. (2002a). Genderual selves on the World Wide Web: Adolescent girls’ homepages as Sites for genderual self-expression. In J. Brown, J. Steele, & K. Walsh-Childers (Eds.), Genderual teens/genderual media: Investigating media’s influence on adolescent genderuality (pp. 265-286). Mahwah, NJ: Eribaum.
Stern, S. (2002b). Virtually speaking: Girls’ self-disclosure on the WWW. Women’s Studies in Communication, 25(2), 223-253.
Stokes, J., Fuehrer, A., & Childs, L. (1980). Gender differences in self-disclosure to various target persons. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 27, 192-198. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.27.2.192
Tamir, D. I., & Mitchell, J. P. (2012). Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding. PNAS, 109(21), 8038-8043.
Walther, J.B. (1992). Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: a relational perspective. Communication Research, 19, 52–90. DOI: 10.1177/009365092019001003
Walther, J. B. (1995). Relational aspects of computer-mediated communication: experimental observations over time. Organizational Science, 6, 186–203. DOI: 10.1287/orsc.6.2.186
Walther, J. B. (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23, 3–43. DOI: 10.1177/009365096023001001
Walther, J. B., & Burgoon, J. K. (1992). Relational communication in computer-mediated interaction. Human Communication Research, 19, 50–88. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.1992.tb00295.x
Wheeless, L. R., & Grotz, J. (1976). Conceptualization and measurement of reported self-disclosure. Human Communication Research, 2, 338-346.
Yum, Y., & Hara, K. (2005). Computer-mediated relationship development: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1). Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/yum.html.
Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1973). Social penetration: The development of interpersonal relationships. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winstron.
Altman, I., & Taylor, D. (1987). Communication in interpersonal relationships: Social penetration processes. In M. Roloff & G. Miller (Ed.), Interpersonal processes (pp. 257-277). London, England: Sage Publications.
Aries, E. J., & Johnson, F. L. (1983). Close friendship in adulthood: Conservational content between same-gender friends. Gender Roles, 9, 1183-96.
Brennan, S.E. (1991). Conversation with and through computers. User modeling and user-adapted interaction, 1, 67-86.
Buhrke, R., & Fuqua, D. (1987). Gender differences in same- and cross-gender supportive relationships. Gender Roles, 17, 339-352.
Burnett, R. (1990). Reflection in personal relationships. In R. Burnett, P. McGhee & D. Clarke (Eds.), Accounting for relationships (pp. 73-94). London: Methuen.
Caldwell, M. A., & Peplau, L. A. (1982). Gender differences in same-gender friendship. Gender Roles, 8, 721-32.
Chan, D. K.-S., & Cheng, G. H.-L. (2004). A comparison of offline and online friendship qualities at different stages of relationship development. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 305-320. DOI: 10.1177/0265407504042834
Cho, S. (2006). Effects of motivations and gender on adolescents’ self-disclosure in online chatting. Paper presented at the annual meeting of International Communication Association, Dresden, Germany.
Christofides, E., Muise, A., & Desmarias, S. (2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes. Cyberpyschology & Behavior, 12, 341-45.
Collins, N. L., & Miller, L. C. (1994). Self-disclosure and liking: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 457-475.
Craig, E., Igiel, M., Wright, K., Cunningham, C., & Ploeger, N. (2007). “Will you be my friend”: Computer-mediated relational development on Facebook.com. Paper presented at the annual meeting of International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.
Culnan, M. J., & Markus, M. L. (1985). Information technologies. In: F. Jablin, F., L. L. Putnam, K. Roberts, et al. (Eds.), Handbook of organizational communication (pp. 420-443). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Cummings, J., Butler, B., & Kraut, R. (2002). The quality of online social relationships. Communications of the ACM, 45, 103–108.
Dindia, K., & Allen, M. (1992). Gender differences in self-disclosure: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 106–124.
Doering, N. (2002). Personal home pages on the Web: A review of research. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 7(3). Retrieved from http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol7/issue3/doering.html
Dolgin, K. G., & Minowa, N. (1997). Gender differences in self-presentation: A comparison of the roles of flatteringness and intimacy in self-disclosure to friends. Gender Roles, 36, 371-380.
Dolgin, K. G., Meyer, L., & Schwartz, J. (1991). Effects of gender, target’s gender, topic, and self-esteem on disclosure to best and midling friends. Sex Roles, 25, 311-29.
Dominick, J. (1999). Who do you think you are? Personal home pages and self-presentation on the World Wide Web. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 76, 646-658.
Dubrovsky, V.J., Kiesler, S., & Sethna, B.N. (1991). The equalization phenomenon: status effects in computer-mediated and face-to-face decision making groups. Human-Computer Interaction, 6, 119–146.
Fleuriet, C., Estrada, D., & Houser, M. L. (2009). The cyber factor: An analysis of relational maintenance through the use of computer-mediated communication. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
Giddens, A. (2000). The third way and its critics. Cambridge: Polity.
Hacker, H. M. (1981). Blabbermouths and clams: Sex differences in self-disclosure in same-sex and cross-sex friendship dyads. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 5, 385-401.
Haferkamp, N., Eimler, S. C., Papadakis, A., & Kruck, J. (2012). Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus? Examining gender differences in self-presentation on social networking sites. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 15(2), 91-98. doi:10.1089/cyber.2011.0151
Henderson, S., & Gilding, M. (2004). `I’ve never clicked this much with anyone in my life’: trust and hyperpersonal communication in online friendships. New Media & Society, 6, 487-506. doi: 10.1177/146144804044331
Jones, D. C. (1991). Friendship satisfaction and gender: An examination of gender differences in contributors to friendship satisfaction. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 8, 167-185.
Kiesler, S., Siegel, J., & McGuire, T. W. (1984). Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39, 1123–1134.
Kleman, E. (2007). Journaling for the world to see: A proposed model of self-disclosure intimacy in blogs. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL.
Li, Q. (2006). Computer-mediated communication: A meta-analysis of male and female attitudes and behaviors. International Journal on E-Learning, 5(4), 525-570.
Mesch, G., & Talmud, I. (2006). The quality of offline and online relationships: The role of multiplexity and duration of social relationships. The Information Society, 22, 137-148. DOI: 10.1080/01972240600677805
Parks, M. R., & Floyd, K. (1996). Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Communication, 46, 1-17. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01462.x
Patterson, M. L. (1983). Nonverbal behavior: a functional perspective. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Patterson, M. L. (1990). Functions of non-verbal behavior in social interaction. In Giles, H., W. P. Robinson, (Eds.), Handbook of language and social psychology (pp. 249–270). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley.
Pearson, J. (1981). The effects of setting and gender on self-disclosure. Group Organization Management, 6, 334-340. DOI: 10.1177/105960118100600309
Peter, J., Valkenburg, P. M., & Schouten, A. P. (2005). Developing a model of adolescent friendship formation on the internet. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8, 423-430.
Petronio, S. (2002). Boundaries of privacy: Dialectics of disclosure. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Petronio, S., Martin, J., & Littlefield, R. (1984). Prerequisite conditions for self-disclosing: A gender issue. Communication Monographs, 51, 268-73.
Riva, G. (2002). The sociocognitive psychology of computer-mediated communication: The present and future of technology-based interactions. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 5, 581-600.
Rubin, Z., & Shenker, S. (1978). Friendship, proximity and self-disclosure. Journal of Personality, 46, 1-22.
Sheldon, P. (2008). The relationship between unwillingness to communicate and students’ Facebook use. Journal of Media Psychology, 20, 67-75.
Smock, A. D., Ellison, N. B., Lampe, C., & Wohn, D. Y. (2011). Facebook as a toolkit: A uses and gratification approach to unbundling feature use. Computers in Human Behavior, 27, 2322-2329.
Special, W. P., & Li-Barber, K. T. (2012). Self-disclosure and student satisfaction with Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 624-630.
Steel, J. L. (1991). Interpersonal correlates of trust and self-disclosure. Psychological Reports, 68, 1319-1320.
Stern, S. (1999). Adolescent girls’ expression on WWW home pages: A qualitative analysis. Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 5, 22-41.
Stern, S. (2002a). Genderual selves on the World Wide Web: Adolescent girls’ homepages as Sites for genderual self-expression. In J. Brown, J. Steele, & K. Walsh-Childers (Eds.), Genderual teens/genderual media: Investigating media’s influence on adolescent genderuality (pp. 265-286). Mahwah, NJ: Eribaum.
Stern, S. (2002b). Virtually speaking: Girls’ self-disclosure on the WWW. Women’s Studies in Communication, 25(2), 223-253.
Stokes, J., Fuehrer, A., & Childs, L. (1980). Gender differences in self-disclosure to various target persons. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 27, 192-198. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.27.2.192
Tamir, D. I., & Mitchell, J. P. (2012). Disclosing information about the self is intrinsically rewarding. PNAS, 109(21), 8038-8043.
Walther, J.B. (1992). Interpersonal effects in computer-mediated interaction: a relational perspective. Communication Research, 19, 52–90. DOI: 10.1177/009365092019001003
Walther, J. B. (1995). Relational aspects of computer-mediated communication: experimental observations over time. Organizational Science, 6, 186–203. DOI: 10.1287/orsc.6.2.186
Walther, J. B. (1996). Computer-mediated communication: Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyperpersonal interaction. Communication Research, 23, 3–43. DOI: 10.1177/009365096023001001
Walther, J. B., & Burgoon, J. K. (1992). Relational communication in computer-mediated interaction. Human Communication Research, 19, 50–88. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.1992.tb00295.x
Wheeless, L. R., & Grotz, J. (1976). Conceptualization and measurement of reported self-disclosure. Human Communication Research, 2, 338-346.
Yum, Y., & Hara, K. (2005). Computer-mediated relationship development: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1). Retrieved from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/yum.html.
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