Revealing the self in a digital world: a systematic review of adolescent online and offline self-disclosure

Abstract

Adolescence is an important stage of social development. While adolescents are prominent adopters of social media, little is known about whether digital interactions can fulfil the social needs of this age group. Here, we focus on one component of social interaction: self-disclosure. In a systematic review, we investigate the role of self-disclosure in adolescent relationships and the differences between online and offline self-disclosure. The results suggest that self-disclosure is associated with higher relationship quality and well-being. Online self-disclosure appears to be less fulfilling and beneficial for relationship quality than face-to-face self-disclosure. However, certain populations appear to benefit more from online than offline self-disclosure - such as highly anxious adolescents and boys aged 12-13 years, who prefer to first self-disclose online before engaging in offline self-disclosure. This suggests that both online and offline self-disclosure can play a role in fulfilling adolescent social needs.

Keywords: adolescence; digital communication; self-disclosure; social needs; systematic review.

Figure 1

shows our search diagram in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. 218 studies were retrieved from the SCOPUS database. We determined that 38 of these studies were potentially relevant and needed to be read in full to test their eligibility. Overall, 19 studies were included in the final review based on our predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria.