1. Finding friends online
Online activities by deaf students and their well-being
Helen Blom, MSc
Supervision by:
Prof. dr. Harry Knoors
Prof. dr. Marc Marschark
dr. Mathijs Vervloed

2. Sharing activities together
Friendships
Importance for development
Differences among countries
Versus
Sharing activities together
Distinction between intimate ties and casual acquaintances

3. Friendships of deaf adolescents
Difficulty making friends partly due to:
Communication barriers (Bowen, 2008; Piso et al., 2009)
Consequences:
Acceptation of deaf adolescents (Kluwin et al., 2002)
Lower number of friends compared to hearing peers (Piso et al., 2009)
Lower friendship quality (Kouwenberg et al., in prep.)
In general, lower well-being in deaf adolescents (Wolters et al., 2012)

4. Online friendships as a solution?
Internet as a widely accepted alternative social environment
Communication through Instant Messaging & Social network sites
Internet communication positively related to friendship quality & well-being (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007)

5. Study Desjarlais & Willoughby, 2010
Relation computer use – friendship quality in two possible ways:
Social compensation hypothesis
Rich-get-richer theory
In socially anxious persons:

6. Communication through reading and writing
Study Barak & Sadovsky, 2008
The theoretical benefits of internet use by deaf adolescents:
Communication through reading and writing
Not necessarily revealing special health status
Relief of psychological uneasiness and stress
Intensive Internet-using deaf participants had similar levels of well-being compared to hearing adolescents, whereas hearing- impaired adolescents who used the Internet less had lower levels of well-being.

7. In deaf & hard of hearing (D/HH) and hearing adolescents
Current study
Compare the quality of online, mixed and offline friendships:
In deaf & hard of hearing (D/HH) and hearing adolescents
In the US and the Netherlands
And measure the relation with well-being
Expectations:
Effect of both Social Compensation Theory & Rich-get-Richer hypothesis  but stronger in the Netherlands than in the USA
Quality of the offline, mixed and online friendships all would be positively related to the adolescents’ well-being

8. 113 D/HH & 109 hearing adolescents
Method
222 participants, 18 – 25 years
113 D/HH & 109 hearing adolescents
100 Dutch & 122 American adolescents
Online survey

9. Measures Variable Items Answer posibilities
Frequency of online activities
How many days per week are you online?
How much time per day do you spend online?
Do you have a SNS profile?
How often do you visit your SNS profile?
… days 
… minutes 
0 = no, 1 = yes
1 = all the time, 6 = less than once a week
Motives for having a SNS profile
Because all of my friends have accounts
To stay in touch with friends I don’t see often
To meet new people and to make new friends
To fill up free time/ not be bored
Do you have a friend… answer the questions below when thinking of this friend
Online Mixed Offline
Computer use in special context
How often do you use the computer with this friend? (to communicate / play games)
0 = never, 3 = always
Friendship quality
I usually tell this person exactly how I feel
I do not know this person very well
Our communication ranges over a wide variety of topics
1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree
Well-being
Satisfaction with life
In most ways my life is close to my ideal
1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree
Loneliness
I experience a general sense of emptiness
1 = yes!, 5 = no!

10. Results
No differences in online frequency between the countries and hearing status
Differences in motives to have a SNS profile:
Americans > Dutch: ‘Because all of my friends have accounts.’
‘To stay in touch with relatives and family.’
(D/HH group) ‘To voice my opinions on various topics.’
Within America
Hearing > D/HH ‘Because all of my friends have accounts.’
D/HH > hearing ‘To meet new people’
Within Netherlands
Hearing > D/HH ‘To comment on people’s profiles.’
D/HH > hearing ‘To stay in touch with relatives & family.’

11. Results

12. Results

13. Geographical distance?
Discussion
Americans and D/HH in the Netherlands more likely to have a SNS profile to stay in touch with relatives and family
Geographical distance?
Offline pc use with friend is positively related to the offline friendship quality
Support for social compensation theory
The offline friendship quality in Americans is negatively related to life satisfaction
Role of quantity?
The mixed friendship quality is positively related to well-being (higher life satisfaction, less loneliness)
No benefits from online friendships… but no harm either!

14. Relation computer use & offline friendship quality:
Social compensation hypothesis

15. Geographical distance?
Discussion
Americans and D/HH in the Netherlands more likely to have a SNS profile to stay in touch with relatives and family
Geographical distance?
Offline pc use with friend is positively related to the offline friendship quality
Support for social compensation theory
The offline friendship quality in Americans is negatively related to life satisfaction
Role of quantity?
The mixed friendship quality is positively related to well-being (higher life satisfaction, less loneliness)
No benefits from online friendships… but no harm either!

16. Meet me at Booth 10 E-mail me: Questions / suggestions?
Wednesday:
me: