Internet Communication and Its Relation to Well-Being: Identifying Some Underlying Mechanisms

Abstract The aim of this study was to improve our insight into the relation between Internet communication and well-being. Drawing on a survey of 816 adolescents, we initially found that Internet communication was negatively related to well-being. However, when adolescents’ (a) closeness to friends and (b) tendency to talk with strangers online were included in our structural equation model, an opposite pattern of results emerged. First, the direct negative relation between Internet communication and well-being disappeared. Second, via the mediator closeness to friends, Internet communication showed a positive influence on well-being. Third, not Internet communication per se, but Internet communication with strangers accounted for a negative effect on well-being. Fourth, the effects of both Internet communication and Internet communication with strangers on well-being were most adverse for lonely adolescents.