Characteristics and behaviours of young people who meet online contacts face-to-face

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary statistics.

		Total sample (weighted)	Male	Female	Difference (p-value)	Met someone offline	Did not meet	Difference (p-value)
N		4295	2062	2233		1371	2924
Measured at 20 years (Wave 4)
OUTCOME
Met someone from online in real life in previous year		34.9	37.1	27.1	<.001
EXPLANTORY VARIABLES
Gender
	Male (%)	50.4				55.8	44.4	<0.001
	Female (%)	49.6				44.2	55.6
Principal economic status at 20 years
	Education (%)	66.0	70.5	75.7	<0.001	70.6	74.5	0.008
	In employment (%)	29.6	26.2	2.5		24.9	22.5
	NEET (%)	4.5	3.3	3.8		4.5	3.1
Living in address other than parents (%)		34.5	33.6	39.4	<.001	36.5	37.0	.751
Residing in capital city (Dublin) (%)		23.4	25.0	23.7	.344	25.5	23.8	.210
One parent household (%)		21.5	12.7	16.6	<.001	16.6	13.9	.021
Higher social class household – non manual (%)		65.8	80.2	77.4	.024	75.5	80.3	<.001
Risk score (Mean, (SD))		6.62 (1.94)	6.66 (1.91)	6.29 (1.95)	<.001	6.74 (1.85)	6.34 (1.97)	<.001
Measured at 17 years (Wave 3)
Dating and sexual experiences
	Uses dating apps (%)	11.7	14.2	9.1	<0.001	17.7	8.6	<0.001
	Non heterosexual (%)	10.0	8.4	11.8	<0.001	15.2	7.9	<0.001
	Sexually active (%)	32.9	30.2	29.2	0.488	34.5	27.4	0.488
Computer use/experiences
	>3 hours online in a weekday (%)	23.4	17.9	23.9	<0.001	25.8	18.7	<0.001
	Excessive internet use (%)	6.8	4.8	9.6	<0.001	9.3	6.4	0.001
Low number of friends (%)		9.1	7.4	8.7	.113	9.6	7.4	.013
‘Big Five’ personality traits (Mean, (SD))
	Openness	5.54 (0.99)	5.47 (1.02)	5.54 (.99)	0.017	5.61 (0.99)	5.46 (1.00)	<0.001
	Extraversion	4.73 (1.33)	4.73 (1.36)	4.78 (1.35)	0.257	4.80 (1.37)	4.74 (1.35)	0.130
	Agreeableness	4.69 (1.07)	4.52 (1.05)	4.84 (1.06)	<0.001	4.62 (1.06)	4.72 (1.06)	<0.001
	Conscientiousness	5.22 (1.16)	5.10 (1.19)	5.31 (1.15)	<0.001	5.12 (1.19)	5.24 (1.17)	0.001
	Emotional Stability	4.75 (1.35)	5.12 (1.26)	4.37 (1.32)	<0.001	4.64 (1.36)	4.77 (1.34)	<0.001
Measured at 9 years (Wave 1)
Early mobile phone ownership (%)		41.1	30.8	37.3	<.001	37.0	32.8	.008

Note: ^NDifferences tests – chi-square test on categorical variables, t-tests on continuous variables.

Table 2. Estimation results on meeting someone from online in real life within the previous year, odds ratios.

	Total sample	Male	Female
Measured at 20 years (Wave 4)
Female (Ref: male)	.550*** [0.436–0.635]	/	/
Employment (Ref: In education)	.963 [0.819–1.139]	0.964 [0.772–1.202]	0.959 [0.746–1.234]
NEET (Ref: In education)	1.290 [0.906–1.838]	1.023 [0.611–1.722]	1.657* [1.042–2.637]
Living in address other than parents	1.080 [0.929–1.257]	1.017 [0.834–1.258]	1.141 [0.917–1.419]
Residing in capital city (Dublin)	1.063 [0.901–1.254]	1.117 [0.890–1.401]	1.020 [0.798–1.305]
One parent household	1.079 [0.891–1.307]	1.058 [0.797–1.404]	1.169 [0.899–1.519]
Higher social class household	.801** [0.678–0.947]	0.851 [0.671–1.080]	0.771* [0.608–0.978]
Upper tertile of risk score	1.188* [1.027–1.374]	1.282* [1.050–1.565]	1.070 [0.859–1.333]
Measured at 17 years (Wave 3)
Uses dating apps	1.869*** [1.531–2.281]	1.623*** [1.256–2.100]	2.302*** [1.683–3.149]
Non heterosexual	1.873*** [1.510–2.324]	2.443*** [1.743–3.428]	1.534** [1.145–2.060]
Sexually active in previous month	1.186* [1.022–1.377]	1.114 [0.902–1.375]	1.197 [0.964–1.488]
>3 hours online in a weekday	1.371*** [1.165–1.613]	1.426*** [1.121–1.814]	1.323** [1.052–1.664]
Excessive internet use	1.366* [1.065–1.750]	1.457^+ [0.955–2.224]	1.323^+ [0.965–1.814]
Low number of friends	1.186 [0.928–1.515]	0.948 [0.662–1.356]	1.450* [1.038–2.024]
Openness	1.140*** [1.060–1.227]	1.091^+ [0.989–1.204]	1.203*** [1.078–1.342]
Extraversion	1.051 [0.978–1.131]	1.116* [1.001–1.237]	0.995 [0.897–1.104]
Agreeableness	.969 [0.907–1.037]	0.917^+ [0.835–1.008]	1.024 [0.929–1.128]
Conscientiousness	.973 [0.910–1.041]	0.963 [0.877–1.056]	0.972 [0.880–1.072]
Emotional Stability	.874*** [0.812–0.940]	0.962 [0.868–1.067]	0.790*** [0.711–0.877]
Measured at 9 years (Wave 1)
Early mobile phone ownership	1.154+ [0.999–1.332]	1.378** [1.128–1.685]	0.949 [0.769–1.171]
Log likelihood	−2556.0	−1303.4	−1234.6
Pseudo R^2	0.05	0.04	0.05
N	4295	2062	2233

Notes: ⁺p < 0.1, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 denote statistical significance. 95% Confidence intervals in square brackets.

Data availability statement

The Growing Up in Ireland data used for this study are available upon application to the Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA). Available at: https://www.ucd.ie/issda/data/growingupinirelandgui/