Do adolescent gamers make friends offline? Identity and friendship formation in school

Today adolescents grow up and make friends in an increasingly digital society, which has led to the study of potential effects of digital gaming on youths' friendships. To date studies have tended to focus on online settings with a knowledge gap concerning the role of gaming identity for friendship formation in offline settings. The current study addresses this, applying a longitudinal social network approachto investigate whether being a gamer impacts adolescent friendship formation.Data was collected by questionnaire from an entire cohort (n=115) of pupils (age 1618) on three occasions during their first year in a Swedish high school. Data was analysed using a stochastic actor-oriented model, developed for testing hypotheses concerning social network changes.Results show that being similar in terms of identifying as a gamer at the later part, but not the start, of the school year makes a friendship 1.5 times more likely. We conclude that shared identities related to digital gaming influence individuals' offline, everyday social relationships as, in the analyses of changes over time to youths' school networks, digital gaming seems to motivate friendship formation. Social network data from a full cohort of 16 year olds starting a new school.Social network analysis exploring changes to youths' friendships over first year.Analyses suggest digital gaming act as motivator for friendship formation in school.

[1]  H. Tajfel,et al.  An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. , 1979 .

[2]  Tom A. B. Snijders,et al.  Manual for SIENA version 2.1 , 2005 .

[3]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[4]  T. L. Taylor,et al.  Book Review: T.L. Taylor, Play Between WorldS: Exploring Online Game Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. vii+197 pp. ISBN 0262201631, $29.95 hbk , 2007, New Media Soc..

[5]  Adrienne Shaw,et al.  On Not Becoming Gamers: Moving Beyond the Constructed Audience , 2013 .

[6]  S. Goodreau,et al.  Birds of a feather, or friend of a friend? using exponential random graph models to investigate adolescent social networks* , 2009, Demography.

[7]  D. Watts,et al.  Origins of Homophily in an Evolving Social Network1 , 2009, American Journal of Sociology.

[8]  Lina Eklund,et al.  Bridging the online/offline divide: The example of digital gaming , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[9]  T. Snijders.  Models for longitudinal network datain , 2005 .

[10]  Mia Consalvo,et al.  Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames , 2007 .

[11]  Constance Steinkuehler,et al.  Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as "Third Places" , 2006, DiGRA Conference.

[12]  W. Bukowski,et al.  Preadolescent friendship and peer rejection as predictors of adult adjustment. , 1998, Child development.

[13]  Tobias H. Stark,et al.  The Double Edge of Common Interest , 2012 .

[14]  D. Buhrmester.  Intimacy of friendship, interpersonal competence, and adjustment during preadolescence and adolescence. , 1990, Child development.

[15]  Thorsten Quandt,et al.  Psychosocial causes and consequences of online video game play , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[16]  Leonard Reinecke,et al.  The social side of gaming: How playing online computer games creates online and offline social support , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[17]  N. Christakis,et al.  and Tastes, ties, and time: A new social network dataset using Facebook. , 2008 .

[18]  Leen d'Haenens,et al.  Family Lifestyles and Media Use Patterns , 1998 .

[19]  Dmitri Williams,et al.  On and Off the 'Net: Scales for Social Capital in an Online Era , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[20]  W. Collins.  RELATIONSHIPS AND DEVELOPMENT DURING ADOLESCENCE: INTERPERSONAL ADAPTATION TO INDIVIDUAL CHANGE , 1997 .

[21]  Barry Wellman,et al.  Social Network Analysis: An Introduction 1 , 2010 .

[22]  K. P. Kallio,et al.  At Least Nine Ways to Play: Approaching Gamer Mentalities , 2011, Games Cult..

[23]  Thomas J. Bemdt,et al.  The Features and Effects of Friendship in Early Adolescence , 2005 .

[24]  L. Jensen‐Campbell,et al.  With a Little Help from Your Friends: The Importance of High-quality Friendships on Early Adolescent Adjustment , 2008 .

[25]  Cuihua Shen,et al.  Unpacking Time Online: Connecting Internet and Massively Multiplayer Online Game Use With Psychosocial Well-Being , 2011, Commun. Res..

[26]  K. Frank,et al.  The Embeddedness of Adolescent Friendship Nominations: The Formation of Social Capital in Emergent Network Structures1 , 2013, American Journal of Sociology.

[27]  B. Entwisle,et al.  Residential Segregation and Interracial Friendship in Schools1 , 2006, American Journal of Sociology.

[28]  Castulus Kolo,et al.  Living a Virtual Life: Social Dynamics of Online Gaming , 2004, Game Stud..

[29]  G. Thompson,et al.  Children's friendships; a study of the bases on which children select and reject their best friends. , 1948, Journal of educational psychology.

[30]  Kevin Lewis,et al.  Beyond and Below Racial Homophily: ERG Models of a Friendship Network Documented on Facebook1 , 2010, American Journal of Sociology.

[31]  L. Eklund.  The Sociality of Gaming : A mixed methods approach to understanding digital gaming as a social leisure activity , 2012 .

[32]  Roy Porter,et al.  The Dialectics of Friendship , 2022 .

[33]  Anne C. Fletcher,et al.  The Company They Keep: Relation of Adolescents' Adjustment and Behavior to Their Friends' Perceptions of Authoritative Parenting in the Social Network , 1995 .

[34]  B. B. Brown,et al.  Peer groups and peer cultures. , 1990 .

[35]  De GroveFrederik,et al.  Youth, Friendship, and Gaming: A Network Perspective , 2014 .

[36]  Randall M. Jones,et al.  Adolescent Friendship Pairs , 1998 .

[37]  Lauri Hietajärvi,et al.  Adolescents’ Social Networks: Exploring Different Patterns of Socio-Digital Participation , 2017 .

[38]  Pål Aarsand.  The ordinary player: teenagers talk about digital games , 2012 .

[39]  Charlotta Hellström,et al.  Influences of motives to play and time spent gaming on the negative consequences of adolescent online computer gaming , 2012, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[40]  Omar Lizardo,et al.  Can Cultural Worldviews Influence Network Composition? , 2010, Social Forces.

[41]  D. Kandel.  Homophily, Selection, and Socialization in Adolescent Friendships , 1978, American Journal of Sociology.

[42]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Internet paradox. A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? , 1998, The American psychologist.

[43]  Matthias Wingens,et al.  Religion, friendship networks and home visits of immigrant and native children , 2014 .

[44]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[45]  S. J. Jang,et al.  DELINQUENT PEERS, BELIEFS, AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR: A LONGITUDINAL TEST OF INTERACTIONAL THEORY* , 1994 .

[46]  W. Hartup,et al.  Adolescents and their friends. , 1993, New directions for child development.

[47]  T. Snijders.  The statistical evaluation of social network dynamics , 2001 .

[48]  Chih-Chien Wang,et al.  Physical Interpersonal Relationships and Social Anxiety among Online Game Players , 2005, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[49]  E. Vandewater,et al.  Relation of adolescent video game play to time spent in other activities. , 2007, Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine.

[50]  Jesper Juul,et al.  A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players , 2009 .

[51]  M. McPherson,et al.  Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks , 2001 .

[52]  Julian A. Oldmeadow,et al.  Geek or Chic? Emerging Stereotypes of Online Gamers , 2012 .

[53]  A. Beltagui,et al.  Why Can’t We All Get Along? A Study of Hygge and Janteloven in a Danish Social-Casual Games Community , 2017, Games Cult..

[54]  Rachel Kowert,et al.  Playing for social comfort: Online video game play as a social accommodator for the insecurely attached , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[55]  Tom A. B. Snijders,et al.  Introduction to stochastic actor-based models for network dynamics , 2010, Soc. Networks.

[56]  W. Hartup,et al.  Friendships and adaptation in the life course. , 1997 .

[57]  Chih-Chien Wang,et al.  Helping Others in Online Games: Prosocial Behavior in Cyberspace , 2008, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[58]  Ronald Rousseau,et al.  Social network analysis: a powerful strategy, also for the information sciences , 2002, J. Inf. Sci..

[59]  S. Değirmencioğlu,et al.  Adolescent Friendship Selection and Termination: The Role of Similarity , 1998 .

[60]  Thorsten Quandt,et al.  The Relationship Between Online Video Game Involvement and Gaming-Related Friendships Among Emotionally Sensitive Individuals , 2014, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[61]  Vili Lehdonvirta,et al.  Virtual Worlds Don't Exist: Questioning the Dichotomous Approach in MMO Studies , 2010, Game Stud..

[62]  F. Heider.  The psychology of interpersonal relations , 1958 .

[63]  John Vanderhoef,et al.  Casual Threats: The Feminization of Casual Video Games , 2013 .

[64]  Elisheva F. Gross,et al.  The impact of home computer use on children's activities and development. , 2000, The Future of children.

[65]  Lina Eklund,et al.  Playing video games together with others : Differences in gaming with family, friends and strangers , 2015 .