De relatie tussen sociale media activiteiten en empathie bij adolescenten

Abstract

Empathy is an important developmental goal during adolescence. There is empirical evidence that suggest a positive relationship between social media use and empathy. However, it remains unclear which activities of social media is related to this increase of empathy. The present study investigates whether active or passive social media activities are positively related to empathy. It is hypothesized that active social media activities are positively related to empathy and passive social media activities are not related to empathy. The moderating role of gender was also examined. A total of 438 adolescents (12 - 18 years) participated in this cross-sectional study. The results showed that active social media activities and passive social media activities are positively related to empathy and that gender does not have a moderating role in this relationship. To gain more insight in the relationship between social media use and empathy it is recommended to research more types of social media activities and their relationship with empathy.