Elsevier

Computers in Human Behavior

Volume 52, November 2015, Pages 49-58
Computers in Human Behavior

Internet use and developmental tasks: Adolescents’ point of view

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.05.029Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The Internet can be a tool to promote adolescent development.

  • The Internet promotes identity formation primarily as a tool to develop interests and expertise.

  • The Internet promotes autonomy by providing a private space, and a way for adolescents to negotiate and test parental rules.

  • Teens use the internet to form and maintain friendships, but less often to form romantic relationships.

Abstract

This study explored adolescents’ opinions about how Internet use supports the achievement of their developmental tasks. Qualitative data were collected in focus groups interviews with 127 Italian Internet users (11–20) attending middle and high schools. Discussions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. Results showed that the Internet plays important functions in identity formation, personal autonomy, and relationships outside the family. It allows teens to develop their own interests, to identify with others and, at the same time, differentiate from others. The Internet is also an arena in which adolescents develop and practice autonomy. The Internet can be a source of conflict with parents, because of parents’ concerns about Internet use. However, the Internet can also be a meeting ground with parents. Finally, participants indicated the Internet is used to form close relationships with peers. Gender and age differences are discussed. Although the study is cross-sectional and relies only on adolescent report, findings illustrate how the conceptual framework of developmental goals may be helpful for understanding how the Internet can affect adolescents’ lives.

Introduction

Adolescence is a period of many biological, psychological and social changes. Adolescents have to learn to adjust to their changing bodies and emerging needs as well as their new skills, roles and responsibilities (Christie & Viner, 2005). They face developmental tasks mainly related to pubertal changes, identity construction and to the redefinition of relationships with adults and peers (Adams & Berzonsky, 2008). For modern adolescents, “online” environments are a significant space of experience in their growth process. Internet usage has considerably increased in adolescence over the past decade (Purcell, 2012). An estimated 95% of American teens ages 12–17 years and 89% of Italian teens between 15 and 19 years surf the Internet (Istat, 2013, Madden et al., 2013). The popularity of Internet in adolescence triggered a wide spectrum of research on the reasons for Internet use among adolescents. Boys and girls spend most of their online time in private communication (e.g., email, instant messaging) with persons they know in their offline lives (Gross, 2004, Tsitsika et al., 2014), seeking information and entertainment, and sometimes to avoid boredom (Lin & Yu, 2008). Adolescent girls spend more time on social networking sites (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010) and use them to reinforce pre-existing friendships, whereas adolescent boys use them to flirt and make new friends (Lenhart & Madden, 2007) and to compensate for social anxiety and learning (Barker, 2009, Desjarlais and Willoughby, 2010).

Internet-related functions have become increasingly integrated into people’s daily lives, and, with the rapid proliferation of users, evidence has begun to emerge suggesting that Internet use may fulfill different developmental needs. Teens use new forms of technology to develop close and meaningful relationships (McKenna et al., 2002, Tzavela et al., 2015, Valkenburg and Peter, 2009b), explore their identity (Israelashvili and Bukobza, 2012, Subrahmanyam et al., 2006), sexuality (Suzuky & Calzo, 2004) and intimacy (Smahel & Subrahmanyam, 2007), and find information about developmentally sensitive issues (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009a). They can find academic support and learn (Chen & Fu, 2009), strengthen their online communication skills and knowledge (Koutamanis et al., 2013, Valkenburg and Peter, 2011), gain positive feelings of mastery and competence (Schmitt, Dayanim, & Matthias, 2008), learn from their peers about communication norms and cultures (Lusk, 2010), increase the feeling of connection (Utz, 2015), and the sense of community (Oeldorf-Hirsch & Sundar, 2015).

Although research has identified multiple ways in which adolescents use the Internet, these studies have some limitations. First, most studies focused on motives for Internet use by adolescents (Barker, 2009, Desjarlais and Willoughby, 2010, Lenhart and Madden, 2007), but only a few of them embed these motives in a developmental theoretical prospective. Moreover, it is not clear whether these findings are applicable to Italian adolescents. Second, researches have mainly stressed the role of social network sites (SNS) in two specific developmental tasks: building and maintaining relationships with peers and partners and identity construction (García-Martín and García-Sánchez, 2015, Valkenburg and Peter, 2011). However, several developmental tasks typical of adolescence are still little explored, such as the redefinition of parental relationships, the processes of identification and differentiation in order to achieve psychosocial autonomy (Steinberg, 2008). Furthermore, developmental tasks may be accomplished not only through SNS use, but also through other activities on the Internet (playing games, searching for information in order to cultivate own interests, etc.). Third, there is little theoretically driven research on adolescents’ perspectives about the role of Internet in their lives. Tzavela et al. (2015), based on an adolescent-centered perspective, found that adolescents consistently connected specific online applications to adolescent-typical needs. However, their participants were adolescents reporting signs of Internet addictive behaviors and findings might be different in a normative sample. Fourth, to our knowledge, there is a lack of research that explores adolescents’ opinion on how the Internet may be used to face developmental tasks in an Italian context. The current study addresses all these gaps. Our aim is to explore adolescents’ opinions about how Internet use may support their achievement of goals identified as important in a developmental perspective. We use qualitative data obtained by focus-group interviews in an Italian context to elucidate the developmental goal-related functions of adolescents’ Internet use. This research takes into account gender and age differences in adolescent reasons for Internet use and online activities.

Section snippets

Internet use and developmental tasks

The concept of developmental tasks, introduced by Havighurst (1972), assumes that human development in modern societies is characterized by an increasingly difficult series of tasks that individuals must complete throughout their lives. They represent internalized links between individual needs and societal claims that gain high subjective relevance, guide motivation and behavior, and show context-specific differences between cultures and historical periods (Adams & Berzonsky, 2008). The major

Participants

Participants were 127 adolescents (65 boys and 62 girls), ranging between 12 and 20 years old (M = 14.67, SD = 1.97), attending middle schools (74 students of 8th grade, 58% of participants) and high schools (53 students of 10th and 12th grade, respectively 20% and 22% of participants) in the province of Turin (Northwest of Italy). In line with the aims of the study, rational sampling was used. The sample was non-random and non-representative, but balanced according to several properties considered

Description of the main characteristics of participants’ Internet use

A pre-group questionnaire was used to assess the main characteristics of participants’ Internet use. Of the 127 students who participated in the study, 95% reported having a personal computer at home and 66% surfed the Internet every day, 15% twice or three times a week, 5% once a week and 14% from less than once a month to once a month. High school students surfed the Internet more often than middle school students, χ2 (4, N = 119) = 15.36, p < .01. There were no significant gender differences in

Discussion and conclusion

The aim of this research was to explore adolescents’ opinions about how the Internet can be used to achieve developmental tasks. Results suggest that half of the goal-related statements focused on identity formation. All focus groups also mentioned autonomy and formation of meaningful relationships with peers. We noted few significant differences based on adolescent gender or school level. Boys did use the Internet for fun more than girls, and high school students mentioned generation-related

References (86)

  • M.K. Israelashvili et al.

    Adolescents’ over-use of the cyber world-Internet addiction or identity exploration?

    Journal of Adolescence

    (2012)
  • L.A. Jackson et al.

    Self-concept, self-esteem, gender, race and information technology use

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2010)
  • M. Koutamanis et al.

    Practice makes perfect: The longitudinal effect of adolescents’ instant messaging on their ability to initiate offline friendships

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2013)
  • F. Laghi et al.

    Knowing when not to use the Internet: Shyness and adolescents’ on-line and off-line interactions with friends

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2013)
  • C. Li et al.

    Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: The effect of parental behavior and self-control

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2014)
  • J. Morahan-Martin et al.

    Loneliness and social uses of the Internet

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2003)
  • A. Oeldorf-Hirsch et al.

    Posting, commenting, and tagging: Effects of sharing news stories on Facebook

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2015)
  • L.D. Rosen et al.

    The association of parenting style and child age with parental limit setting and adolescent MySpace behavior

    Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

    (2008)
  • L.D. Rosen et al.

    Media and technology use predicts ill-being among children, preteens and teenagers independent of the negative health impacts of exercise and eating habits

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2014)
  • K. Subrahmanyam et al.

    Constructing sexuality and identity in an online teen chatroom

    Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

    (2004)
  • A.K. Tsitsika et al.

    Online social networking in adolescence: Patterns of use in six European countries and links with psychosocial functioning

    Journal of Adolescent Health

    (2014)
  • E.C. Tzavela et al.

    Processes discriminating adaptive and maladaptive Internet use among European adolescents highly engaged online

    Journal of Adolescence

    (2015)
  • S. Utz

    The function of self-disclosure on social network sites: Not only intimate, but also positive and entertaining self-disclosures increase the feeling of connection

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2015)
  • P.M. Valkenburg et al.

    Online communication among adolescents: An integrated model of its attraction, opportunities, and risks

    Journal of Adolescent Health

    (2011)
  • J.L. Wang et al.

    The mediator role of self-disclosure and moderator roles of gender and social anxiety in the relationship between Chinese adolescents’ online communication and their real-world social relationships

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2011)
  • J. Wolak et al.

    Escaping or connecting? Characteristics of youth who form close online relationships

    Journal of Adolescence

    (2003)
  • S. Yang et al.

    The benefits and dangers of flow experience in high school students’ Internet usage: The role of parental support

    Computers in Human Behavior

    (2014)
  • S. Zhao et al.

    Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships

    Computers in Human Behaviors

    (2008)
  • R. Baiocco et al.

    Amicizia on-line: Disimpegno o stimolazione?

    Psicologia clinica dello sviluppo

    (2011)
  • V. Barker

    Older adolescents’ motivations for social network site use: The influence of gender, group identity, and collective self-esteem

    CyberPsychology & Behavior

    (2009)
  • J. Blais et al.

    Adolescents online: The importance of Internet activity choices to salient relationships

    Journal of Youth and Adolescence

    (2008)
  • S. Bonino et al.
    (2005)
  • S.L. Calvert

    Identity construction on the Internet

  • S.Y. Chen et al.

    Internet use and academic achievement: Gender differences in early adolescence

    Adolescence

    (2009)
  • C.-H. Cho et al.

    Children’s exposure to negative Internet contact: Effects of family context

    Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media

    (2005)
  • D. Christie et al.

    ABC of adolescence: Adolescence development

    British Medical Journal

    (2005)
  • N.B. Ellison et al.

    The benefits of Facebook “friends”: Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites

    Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

    (2007)
  • García-Martín, J., & García-Sánchez, J. N. (2015). Use of Facebook, Tuenti, Twitter and Myspace among young Spanish...
  • P.M. Greenfield et al.

    Teens on the Internet: Interpersonal connection, identity, and information

    Information Technology at Home

    (2006)
  • R.J. Havighurst

    Developmental tasks and education

    (1972)
  • Istat (2013). Report Cittadini e nuove tecnologie. Retrieved from the Istat website:...
  • E. Kirchler et al.

    Developmental tasks and adolescents’ relationships with their peers and their family

  • Cited by (0)

    1

    Permanent address: Department of Psychology, University of Torino, Via Verdi 10, 10126 Torino, Italy. Tel. +39 011 6702986; fax: +39 011 6702790.

    View full text