The effects of culture, gender and self-construal on friendship and intimacy in face-to-face and computer-mediated environments

Abstract

The rise of Internet and the introduction of computers as interpersonal communication tools into our lives led to much social research on computer-mediated communication. However, the effect of cultural characteristics on individuals'perception of interpersonal relations in computer-mediated settings is still an understudied topic. In this study, computer-mediated friendships and face-to-face friendships were compared with regard to individuals' descriptions of their friends and intimacy in their friendship. The study examined the effect of culture (Japanese and Turkish), gender, and self-construals (independent vs. interdependent) on individual's intimacy levels for and descriptions of their Internet and face-to-face friends. Participants were 98 Turkish and 46 Japanese university students. The results showed that participants' intimacy level for their face-to-face friends was higher than for their Internet friends. The intimacy level of males for Internet friends was higher than that of females. In terms of culture, the Turkish participants were found to have higher overall intimacy levels than the Japanese participants. Males in the Japanese and the females in the Turkish samples had a higher intimacy level. Independent and interdependent selves were not found to differ in terms of intimacy levels. With regard to friend descriptions, the Turkish participants used personal descriptions more than the Japanese, whereas the Japanese participants used relational descriptions more than the Turkish participants. In general, females used relational descriptions more than men. In terms of face-to-face and Internet friendship, Japanese participants used personal descriptions for face-to-face friends more than for the Internet friend, whereas Turkish participants used personal descriptions in the face-to-face and the Internet environments to the same degree.