A study on the relationship between friendship style and negative experience with SNS in Japanese high school students

The present study was to explore how friendship style is related to SNS stress in Japanese high school students. Some characteristics of friendship of modern Japanese adolescents were found in previous studies. SNS usage for LINE, Twitter, and Instagram were investigated. The data was collected by a questionnaire survey for first graders of a high school (n = 175). Cluster analysis yielded three friendship styles; adolescents who avoided a close friendship (avoidance style), those who participated in an emotionally close friendship (close-relationship style), and those who were careful not to hurt or be hurt by their friends and who tried just to enjoy time together with their friends (carefully-gathering style). SNS stress was compared as a function of cluster (i.e., friendship style). Adolescents of carefully-gathering style yielded higher tendency of compulsion to monitor SNS, anxiety of diffusion, and social comparison. Adolescents of close-relationship style were found to use many kinds of SNS and use LINE longer than the other styles, while their SNS stress was relatively weak. It was suggested that friendship style, rather than SNS usage, affects SNS stress.