Similarity and the quality of online and offline social relationships among adolescents in Israel

Studies on online social relationships have focused on how Internet use is associated with sociability, but have not compared the quality of online with offline relationships. On the other hand, studies on adolescent friendship formation have used school samples disregarding the Internet as a new social context for it. We took a different approach, studying the relationship between the social context of acquaintance (school, neighborhood, and online) and the structure and quality of friendships among adolescents. In a representative sample of Israeli adolescents (n = 980), similarities in age, gender, and place of residence were studied in respect of the social sphere in which each friend was met (neighborhood, school, and online communication). We found that when a friend was met at school the likelihood of similarity in age, gender, and place of residence was higher than when contact was made online. Friends met in the neighborhood and schools were usually closer than friends met online. However, social similarity mattered even for friends who were met online. The more similar an online friend was in residence and gender, the stronger was the social tie.