Intimacy, friendship, and forms of online communication among hidden youth in Hong Kong

This combined quantitative and qualitative study investigates the friendship development of hidden youth in the light of their uses of different forms of online communication. 357 hidden youth participated in the quantitative study, and 42 participated in qualitative interviews. Quantitative analyses examined the forms of communication used by hidden youth at different friendship levels as well as the relationship among intimacy, forms of communication, and friendship level, whilst qualitative analysis was included to support the quantitative findings. Results showed that hidden youth adopted various forms of online communication which allow diversified information exchange. More forms and more private forms of communication were used between closer friends. Also, forms of communication partially mediated the relationship between intimacy and friendship, indicating that forms of communication play a part in influencing friendship development. Additionally, the level of intimacy and friendship affected the use of forms of communication.