Intimacy, friendship, and forms of online communication among hidden youth in Hong Kong

Highlights

• Hidden youth use different forms of online communication.

• Forms of online communication influence friendship and intimacy development.

• Different forms of online communication are chosen due to different concerns.

• These concerns include the depth of friendship and the needs to be fulfilled.

Abstract

This combined quantitative and qualitative study investigates the friendship development of hidden youth in the light of their uses of different forms of online communication. 357 hidden youth participated in the quantitative study, and 42 participated in qualitative interviews. Quantitative analyses examined the forms of communication used by hidden youth at different friendship levels as well as the relationship among intimacy, forms of communication, and friendship level, whilst qualitative analysis was included to support the quantitative findings. Results showed that hidden youth adopted various forms of online communication which allow diversified information exchange. More forms and more private forms of communication were used between closer friends. Also, forms of communication partially mediated the relationship between intimacy and friendship, indicating that forms of communication play a part in influencing friendship development. Additionally, the level of intimacy and friendship affected the use of forms of communication.

Introduction

The Internet has become an indispensable part of daily life (Bargh & McKenna, 2004). It allows people to use different types of communication tools to interact with others and maintain relationships (Mesch, 2009). As technology has advanced, online forms of communication have become more diversified, allowing exchange of textual, audio, and visual information (e.g., Kalman & Gergle, 2009; Ramirez & Broneck, 2009; Schwarz, 2011). This makes online communication a significant alternative to traditional offline communication (Chan, 2016; Chan & Cheng, 2004). Several scholars (e.g., Chan, 2016; Wong & Ying, 2006) have observed that hidden youth also make use of the Internet to make friends, developing friendships that are as intimate as their offline counterparts (). Hidden youth are young people who have withdrawn from face-to-face social interactions and participation, except their closest family, for at least six months (e.g., Chan, 2016; Saito, 1998). Since these people do not have social status and normally stay at home for a prolonged period, they are commonly regarded as being socially isolated (Chan & Lo, 2010; Wong & Ying, 2006); this causes their online friend-making situations to be overlooked (Chan & Lo, 2014). Due to the scant research on this area, this study seeks to address existing research gap by achieving the following aims: 1) to examine the kinds of online communication tools used by hidden youth; 2) the relationship between different forms of online communication, intimacy level, and friendship development; and 3) to explore the variations among different forms of online communication in intimacy and friendship levels. Inquiring into these youth's online friend-making behavior, this study provides further evidence of the ability of hidden youth to establish virtual intimacy (Chan & Lo, 2014), and generates significant implications for effectively engaging hidden youth, as well as the general youth population, via the Internet.