Abstract
Although there is an increasing amount of research on social support in cyberspace, little is known about how Internet technologies influence social support among people who share offline personal relationships. The current study examined how friends' instant messenger (IM) status might influence individuals' coping and support-seeking, and what mechanisms could account for those effects. Four hundred and ninety-four college students read and responded to a hypothetical scenario in which they logged onto IM after experiencing a stressful situation. Participants perceived higher levels of self-efficacy, greater stress decrease, and greater likelihood of seeking support from a friend when the friend was said to be online than offline. Perceived social presence mediated the influence of a friend's online status on participants' coping and likelihood of seeking support from the friend.
Acknowledgments
The research reported in this article was based, in part, on the second author's master's thesis, which was directed by the first author.
Notes
*p < .05. ***p < .001.
Note. All entries in the table are unstandardized regression coefficients. Percentages (%) refer to percent of the total effect explained by a particular variable or effect.
**p < .01. ***p < .001.