The emergence of online social networking has increased development of exclusively online friendships. Individuals in online environments are willing to invest considerable time and effort to develop and maintain relationships as they would in other gathering spaces. In some cases, individuals find it preferable to make friends via the internet over more traditional means of relationship formation. The current study examines preference for online friends over face-to-face friends. Initially, we developed a brief, one-dimensional, 11-item questionnaire assessing online friendship preference based on semi-structured interviews. Confirmatory factor analysis showed support for a one-factor model. Internal consistency was established using inter-item correlation, corrected item-total correlation, and Cronbach’s α. Subsequently, we examined the psychological determinants and consequences of preference for online friendship formation. Participants who reported higher fear of intimacy and perceived relationship vulnerability reported greater preference for online friends over face-to-face friends. Preference for online friendship was related to increased risk of problematic internet use. The findings suggest that interpersonal fears, combined with attributes of online communication (e.g., reduced social cues and more personal control) motivate some individuals to prefer online intimacies over face-to-face friendships, thereby increasing time spent online.
Friendship is defined as a bond of mutual affection, trust, and support that can increase happiness and help meet basic needs (
The digitalized era has provided ample opportunity for online connectivity and engagement. Online friendships have increased rapidly (
Online and face-to-face relationships show many similarities. In an examination of friendships,
There is evidence of a preference for online over face-to-face relationships among some internet users. For example,
For socially anxious people, formation of face-to-face relationships may be difficult (
Considering previous theory and research findings, we expect that individuals showing greater social anxiety (fear of intimacy, fear of negative evaluation, hurt feeling proneness, and perceived relationship vulnerability) will tend to favor online compared to face-to-face friendships. To be more precise, we assume that interpersonal fears, combined with attributes of online communication (e.g., more identity control and less threat), make some individuals prefer online intimacies over face-to-face friendships. After developing and validating a brief self-report measurement to evaluate preference of online friends over face-to-face friends, we sought to understand the predictive roles of fear of intimacy, fear of negative evaluation, hurt feeling proneness, and perceived relationship vulnerability in online friendship preference.
The convenience sample consisted of college students of Guilan University in Iran. Initial development of the Online Friendship Preference Questionnaire (OFPQ) was explored using a semi-structured interview with 9 individuals who reported preference for online friends over face-to-face friends. Content validity of the OFPQ was then evaluated for relevance, clarity, and simplicity by 7 psychometric experts. Subsequently, 43 participants were administered the OFPQ for pilot-testing. Eventually, a total of 449 participants, 283 women (63.03%) and 166 men (36.97%),
We used a mixed-method design integrating qualitative and quantitative methods. The current study aimed to develop and validate the Online Friendship Preference Questionnaire (OFPQ). Furthermore, the psychological determinants and consequences of preference for online friendship formation were investigated.
The items of OFPQ were generated using related literature, a semi-structured interview, content validity suggestions provided by an expert panel, and a pilot study. The reliability and validity of ONPQ were explored using content validity index (CVI;
Preference of online friends over face-to-face friends was measured through Online Friendship Preference Questionnaire (OFPQ) developed for the current study (see
Item |
---|
1. I prefer online friends to real world friends. |
2. I would rather search for a friend on the Internet than in the real world. |
3. I count more on my online friends than real friends. |
4. If I have something important to say, I'm more likely to tell online friends than real-world friends. |
5. My online friendships are warmer than my real-world friendships. |
6. I enjoy spending time with my online friends more than friends in real life. |
7. I feel more intimate with my online friends than I do with my friends in real life. |
8. I feel closer to my online friends than my friends in real life. |
9. My online friendships tend to be deeper than friendships in the real world. |
10. I believe online friends can more truly be friends than real-life friends. |
11. I feel more comfortable expressing myself to online friends compared to real-world friends. |
12. I prefer to pursue friendships via the internet instead of face-to-face interaction. |
Fear of intimacy in relationships was assessed via the Fear of Intimacy Components Questionnaire (FICQ;
The participants’ tolerance for the possibility they might be judged disparagingly or hostilely by others was measured by the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Version 2 (BFNE-II;
Social pain and unhappiness caused by someone’s words or actions was assessed through the Hurt Feeling Scale (HFS;
To measure perceived relationship vulnerability, the item “how much do you fear being rejected in interpersonal relationships?” was included. Response options were on a 7-point Likert type scale from 1 (
Problematic usage of the Internet was measured via the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire-9 (PIUQ-9;
Initially, we examined the psychometric properties of the OFPQ. High CVI (.91) and CVR (.92) were found for the 12 items. Tests for normality confirmed that the data were normally distributed prior to running EFA and CFA. After examining the Cronbach’s alpha (
Item | Factor | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1. I prefer online friends to real world friends. | .72 | .52 | 2.08 | 1.06 |
2. I would rather search for a friend on the Internet than in the real world. | .73 | .54 | 1.85 | 1.08 |
3. I count more on my online friends than real friends. | .79 | .63 | 1.82 | 1.08 |
4. If I have something important to say, I'm more likely to tell online friends than real-world friends. | .76 | .58 | 2.28 | 1.34 |
5. My online friendships are warmer than my real-world friendships. | .84 | .70 | 2.09 | 1.25 |
6. I enjoy spending time with my online friends more than friends in real life. | .82 | .67 | 1.99 | 1.10 |
7. I feel more intimate with my online friends than I do with my friends in real life. | .89 | .79 | 1.99 | 1.22 |
8. I feel closer to my online friends than my friends in real life. | .90 | .81 | 2.01 | 1.24 |
9. My online friendships tend to be deeper than friendships in the real world. | .90 | .80 | 1.80 | 1.12 |
10. I believe online friends can more truly be friends than real-life friends. | .81 | .65 | 2.01 | 1.13 |
11. I feel more comfortable expressing myself to online friends compared to real-world friends. | .47 | .22 | 2.83 | 1.45 |
The scree plot indicated that a large portion of variability was explained by one factor (
CFA (
Goodness of fit indices | Tested model |
---|---|
84.835 | |
44 | |
< .05 | |
1.93 | |
Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) | .97 |
Comparative Fit Index (CFI) | .98 |
Root Mean Square Error Of Approximation (RMSEA) | .06 |
Item analysis (
Item | Corrected item-total correlations | Cronbach’s |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2.03 (1.07) | .69 | .94 | 1 | ||||||||||
2 | 1.87 (1.09) | .68 | .94 | .60** | 1 | |||||||||
3 | 1.78 (1.08) | .77 | .93 | .60** | .59** | 1 | ||||||||
4 | 2.22 (1.37) | .74 | .94 | .51** | .49** | .56** | 1 | |||||||
5 | 2.09 (1.27) | .80 | .93 | .58** | .57** | .68** | .65** | 1 | ||||||
6 | 1.97 (1.19) | .78 | .93 | .60** | .58** | .62** | .61** | .67** | 1 | |||||
7 | 1.95 (1.21) | .84 | .93 | .62** | .58** | .68** | .69** | .73** | .71** | 1 | ||||
8 | 2.00 (1.27) | .86 | .93 | .60** | .59** | .69** | .68** | .75** | .72** | .79** | 1 | |||
9 | 1.82 (1.15) | .85 | .93 | .60** | .58** | .72** | .65** | .74** | .72** | .81** | .82** | 1 | ||
10 | 2.01 (1.19) | .75 | .93 | .58** | .55** | .65** | .61** | .62** | .64** | .66** | .64** | .69** | 1 | |
11 | 2.74 (1.48) | .51 | .95 | .35** | .40** | .39** | .45** | .39** | .41** | .43** | .50** | .44** | .42** | 1 |
*
After establishing psychometric properties of the OFPQ, Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression analyses were conducted to address the determinants and consequences of online friendship preference (
Variable | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Fear of losing the self | 14.64 | 4.81 | .77 | 1 | |||||||||
2. Fear of losing the other | 16.49 | 4.50 | .71 | .44** | 1 | ||||||||
3. Fear of intimacy | 31.13 | 7.90 | .80 | .86** | .84** | 1 | |||||||
4. Fear of negative evaluation | 25.27 | 13.18 | .94 | .41** | -.02 | .24** | 1 | ||||||
5. Hurt feeling | 19.45 | 4.66 | .71 | .29** | .02 | .19** | .57** | 1 | |||||
6. Perceived relationship vulnerability | 4.33 | 1.81 | .34** | .18** | .31** | .43** | .37** | 1 | |||||
7. Obsession disorder | 8.03 | 3.74 | .88 | .34** | .06 | .24** | .40** | .27** | .32** | 1 | |||
8. Neglect/control disorder | 17.07 | 5.82 | .82 | .31** | .04 | .22** | .40** | .22** | .33** | .64** | 1 | ||
9. Problematic internet use | 25.10 | 8.70 | .88 | .36** | .05 | .25** | .44** | .26** | .36** | .86** | .94** | 1 | |
10. Online friendship preference | 22.48 | 10.65 | .94 | .32** | .26** | .34** | .09 | .07 | .26** | .30** | .21** | .27** | 1 |
The sum of study’s variables explained .39 of the unique variance in online friendship preference (
Predictive Variable | β | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Final model | .39 | .15 | |||||
Fear of losing the self | .53 | .12 | .24 | 4.33 | .000 | ||
Fear of losing the other | .27 | .12 | .11 | 2.21 | .028 | ||
Fear of Negative Evaluation | -.06 | .05 | -.07 | -1.20 | .229 | ||
Hurt feeling | -.10 | .12 | -.04 | -.78 | .436 | ||
Perceived Relationship Vulnerability | 1.23 | .30 | .21 | 4.13 | .000 |
The present study confirmed the psychometric properties of the Online Friendship Preference Questionnaire (OFPQ). To our knowledge, the OFPQ is the first scale measuring online friendship preference. We found that participants with high fear of intimacy and perceived relationship vulnerability were more inclined toward online friendship preference. Moreover, results showed that online friendship preference predicted problematic internet use. Our findings support the Hyperpersonal Model of interpersonal communication (
The Hyperpersonal Model of interpersonal communication suggests that computer-mediated communication can offer a range of advantages over traditional face-to-face communication (
In our study, participants with high fear of intimacy including fear of losing the self (ß = .24;
We have argued that online friendship may be adaptive for some people. However, it is reasonable to inquire whether there are also maladaptive qualities to online friendships. Though it is tempting to assume that online friendships are less authentic and satisfying than face-to-face relationships, one might reach a more optimistic conclusion if online intimacies are compared to the alternative of social isolation. Research has shown that fear of intimacy predicts loneliness (
The present study has some limitations. The sample was homogeneous, consisting of young adult college students in Iran, about two thirds of whom were women. Research on online friendship preference has been limited and we have no way of knowing how our results might compare with more diverse older samples, community samples, and samples selected from other cultural groups. Cross-cultural studies are necessary to investigate how findings from Iran reflect online friendship in other societies. We did not have a sample size that permitted the analysis of a separate subsample for investigating predictors of online friendship preference. Using a different subsample from the EFA and CFA analyses would have led to more concise results. Our measure of perceived relationship vulnerability consisted of a single item and we were therefore unable to evaluate the reliability of that measure. Future research should confirm the relationship between online friendship preference and perceived relationship vulnerability using a multi-item measure. Finally, our design is correlational, making it difficult to conclude the direction of cause and effect. For example, we suggest that fear of intimacy is a cause of online friendship preference. However, it is also reasonable to conclude that online friendship preference increases fear of intimacy through negative reinforcement associated with the avoidance of face-to-face interactions. In other words, cultivating exclusively online friendships may cause greater apprehension of face-to-face friendships because they are unfamiliar and seem to require an enhanced level of intimacy that one can easily avoid in online interactions.
Despite its limitations, the present research contributes to the literature on online relationships by providing a valid and reliable instrument to measure online friendship preference. Our findings also provide preliminary information about the psychological determinants and consequences of online friendship preference. As the sophistication of internet communication grows, novel strategies of impression management become possible (e.g., digital enhancement of video, use of avatars to create alternative identities). Moreover, global events such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic have the power to severely curtail face-to-face interactions. Further research should continue to explore how technology might enhance or impair the formation of interpersonal relationships.
The authors have no funding to report.
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
The authors have no additional (i.e., non-financial) support to report.