2-106 - #PeerProblems: Examining the Role of Social Media in Transforming Peer Experiences and Influencing Adolescent Adjustment

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

As social media has offered new ways for youth to interact with their peers, many researchers have conceptualized online interactions as mere extensions of offline peer experiences. A novel framework, however, offers a unifying theory of social media use suggesting that this new context actually transforms peer experiences and their impact on psychosocial adjustment in several key ways (Nesi, Choukas-Bradley, & Prinstein, 2018). This symposium comprises three studies that empirically test hypotheses made by the transformation framework with regard to three peer processes: peer victimization, peer status, and peer influence. The proposed symposium will begin with a brief overview of the transformation framework by the discussant. Talk 1 will explore two studies demonstrating how social media transforms negative peer interactions, including the effects of both victimization and exposure to former friends, with two samples of early adolescents. Talk 2 will investigate the bi-directional associations between popularity and social media use in a longitudinal sample of early adolescents, including evidence that social media use exacerbates the link between peer status and depressive symptoms and externalizing problems. Talk 3 will describe late adolescents’ and emerging adults’ use of geosocial networking applications (e.g., Tinder), as well as the influence of perceived peer use of these applications, and investigate links to risky behaviors such as number of sex partners, alcohol use, and binge drinking. The discussant will conclude by outlining how each of these talks demonstrates how specific characteristics of social media usage transform peer experiences and lead to unique developmental outcomes.

Sub Unit

• Technology, Media & Child Development

Chair

• Kaitlin M Flannery, SUNY Cortland

Discussant

• Sophie Choukas-Bradley, University of Pittsburgh

Individual Presentations

• Exploring the Negative Correlates of Online Exposure to Victimization and Former Friends in Adolescence - Presenting Author: Kaitlin M Flannery, SUNY Cortland; Non-Presenting Author: Anna Vannucci, Connecticut Children's Medical Center; Non-Presenting Author: Christine McCauley Ohannessian, University of Connecticut School of Medicine; Non-Presenting Author: Katherine Bonafide, SUNY Cortland

• Social Media Use and Popularity in Adolescents: Examining Bidirectional Relationships and Impact on Psychological Adjustment - Presenting Author: Anna Vannucci, Connecticut Children's Medical Center; Non-Presenting Author: Christine McCauley Ohannessian, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

• Tinder Use and Risk Behavior: A Pilot Study to Characterize Use and Influence Among Youth - Presenting Author: Katherine Bonafide, SUNY Cortland; Non-Presenting Author: Shannon Thomson, SUNY Cortland; Non-Presenting Author: Kaitlin M Flannery, SUNY Cortland