Why do adolescents self-disclose online? A longitudinal study on adolescents' self-disclosure and protective behaviors in social network sites.

The use of social network sites (SNS) has rapidly increased over the past decade. As these sites revolve around the disclosure of personal information, scholars have critically discussed the possible implications of online self-disclosure, especially for adolescents. However, studies on SNS data disclosure are limited in three ways that inspired the project's objectives. First, most studies focus on data provided in online profiles and how profile privacy settings are used. Revealing personal information while using SNS has been less investigated. Therefore, the present project will contribute to the literature by analyzing predictors and consequences of self-disclosure of adolescents while using SNS. Furthermore, the project will investigate youngsters' protective behaviors when self-disclosing. Second, most studies take a data-driven perspective and lack a theoretical angle. Consequently, the second objective of the project is theory driven. Adolescents' self-disclosures will be investigated by applying an extended model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Protection Motivation Theory will be applied to investigate users' awareness and experience of risks related to self-disclosure and how this motivates protective behaviors. Finally, most studies adopt a cross-sectional design. Therefore, the third objective of the project is to adopt a longitudinal approach to analyze how adolescents' behavior evolves after experiencing specific outcomes of self-disclosure.

Keywords:SOCIAL NETWORK SITES, SELF-DISCLOSURE, ADOLESCENTS

Disciplines:Biological and physiological psychology, General psychology, Other psychology and cognitive sciences, Communication sciences, Journalism and professional writing, Media studies, Other media and communications