The Influence of Internet Use on Interpersonal Interaction among Chinese Urban Residents: The Mediating Effect of Social Identification

Abstract

The instability of social norms on the Internet causes the diversity of social identification.Meanwhile, the anonymity of online social identity and the chaos of the role-playing among theinteracting participants cause an ambiguity of identity recognition, which intensifies anxiety aboutinterpersonal interaction. Methods that promote face-to-face interpersonal interaction through thereconstruction of the identification to the social system and intergroup trust is worth furtherresearch. Based on a telephone survey of urban residents in thirty-six cities in China (N=1080), thestudy focuses on the influence of Internet use on interpersonal interaction of urban residents andthe mediation effect of social identification. The results show that Internet use has a negative effecton the interpersonal interactions of urban residents, and social identification plays a mediatingeffect between Internet use and interpersonal interaction. Implications of the results are discussed.

Keywords

• Interpersonal interaction
• Internet use
• social identification
• mediation effect