Adolescents' sexual self-disclosure on the Internet: deindividuation and impression management.

Chiou, Wen-Bin

Adolescents' sexuality in real life has been widely explored in past research on such subjects as sexual attitudes (Werner-Wilson, 1998), sexual orientation (Frankowski, 2004), homosexuality (Harrison, 2003), sexual knowledge (Fisher, 1986), sexual behavior (Cubbin, Santelli, Brindis, & Braveman, 2005; Gowen, Feldman, Diaz, & Yisrael, 2004; Rostosky, Wilcox, Wright, & Randall, 2004), and sex education (Somers & Gleason, 2001; Song, Pruitt, McNamara, & Colwell, 2000). However, human sexuality on the Internet is a growing area of research in the social sciences (Cooper, 1998; 2002). Researchers have only recently begun to gather empirical data concerning online sexuality activity (OSA). To date, empirical studies have focused on the variety of OSAs (Cooper, Scherer, Boies, & Gordon, 1999), their categorization (Cooper & Griffin-Shelley, 2002), and online sexual problems (Cooper, Delmonico, & Burg, 2000; Cooper, Griffin-Shelley, Delmonico, & Mathy, 1999; Schneider, 2000). Only a few studies were addressed on the subject of adolescents' cybersex (e.g., Lo & Wei, 2005; Cameron, Salazar, Bernhardt, & Burgress-Whitman, 2005). How adolescents self-disclosure sexual information about themselves in cyberspace in largely unknown. The present study explored gender differences in adolescents' sexual self-disclosure on the Internet, the effect of anonymity on their willingness to self-disclose, and how they respond to others' sexual self-disclosure.

Deindividuation Effect and Sexual Self-Disclosure in Cyberspace

Previous perspectives proposed that self-disclosure and intimacy of relationship are synonymous, and that self-disclosure can function as an indicator of intimacy in interpersonal relations (Jourard, 1971). According to the social penetration model (Altman & Taylor, 1973), individuals will be more likely to self-disclose sexual information to intimate partners in real life. However, personal identification on the Internet is highly anonymous (Wallace, 2001) and can produce a deindividuated state which may bring about further disinhibition of one's antinormative behavior (Postmes & Spears, 1998). Therefore, sexual self-disclosure on the Internet may not depend on the intimacy of relationship as it does in real life.

Festinger, Pepitone, and Newcomb (1952) described deindividuation as a psychological state in which inner restraints are lost when "individuals are not seen or paid attention to as individuals" (p. 283). Anonymity, in particular, has been identified as one of the key causes of deindividuation (Zimbardo, 1969). A significant number of studies have demonstrated that deindividuation is likely to motivate individuals to behave in antinormative ways (e.g., Ellison, Govern, Petri, & Figler, 1995; Rehm, Steinleitner, & Lilli, 1987; Zimbardo, 1975).

As to Internet sexuality, for example, Lin and Yeh (1999) pointed out that the anonymity of the Internet ensured users' privacy. They found that, when having cyber sex, the anonymous users could feel free to confide their private thoughts to interactive partners. Wallace (2001) also believed that since the users are anonymous, they would be free of others' evaluation and criticism and thus do things they would not otherwise do. Therefore, it was predicted that adolescents would be more willing to self-disclose sexual information when their identities on the Internet are anonymous.

Gender and Sexual Self-Disclosure in Cyberspace

With regard to self-disclosure in real life, the consistent findings of previous research has been that females are more willing than males to provide profound self-disclosure to others (Caldwell & Peplau, 1982; Dindia & Allen, 1992; Reisman, 1990). Females believe that they reveal more about themselves and are more likely to be the recipients of others' self-disclosure (Buhrke & Fuqua, 1987; Snell, Miller, & Belk, 1988). In fact, females disclose themselves not only more frequently than do males, but are more willing to disclose intimate details than are males (Davidson & Duberman, 1982).

Gender differences in Internet sexuality is a critical issue in the psychology of the Internet. Previous studies also have noted that gender differences in online sexual activities, sexual exploration, and expression of Internet sexuality (e.g., Cooper et al., 1999). Hsueh (2001) found gender differences in late adolescents' self-disclosure. Whether in real life or in cyberspace, the extent of self-disclosure of males was greater than that of female. Thus, the findings were different from previous studies on gender differences in the self-disclosure of real life. However, Hsueh's findings focused only on general self-disclosure in the personal files on the Internet. As to adolescents' sexual self-disclosure, gender differences may disclose a different picture from their general self-disclosure.

Weiser (2000) found that male students were more likely to engage in non-directed OSAs than females, and viewing of pornography was more common among men than women. Similarly, Cooper et al. (1999) found that men outnumbered women 6:1 in use of the Internet for sexual entertainment. Based on these findings, one might argue that male college students are more likely to engage in sexual self-disclosure because they seemed to be more active in online sexuality. However, with the tendency toward gender equality and sexual liberation on college campuses, are gender differences in sexual self-disclosure still consistent with the previous research findings in real life? When in a process of disclosing with a high degree of anonymity, will females who are more constrained in real life reject the restrictions of traditional gender roles, and become bolder and more liberal in offering greater sexual self-disclosure? Investigation of gender differences in sexual self-disclosure may provide insight into adolescents' sexual attitudes in cyberspace.

Impression Management and Adolescents" Response to Sexual Disclosure

From the perspective of impression management (Tedeschi & Norman, 1985), people tend to consciously or unconsciously manipulate their self-presentation for specific purposes, and these images may be inconsistent with their real selves (Tedeschi, 1986). Through impression management, one can obtain the benefits from specific impressions such as position, promotion, and friendships (Leary & Kowalski, 1990).

Wallace (2001) pointed out that most people modify their self-presentation on the Internet. When providing sexual self-disclosure in cyberspace, individuals may present themselves either as more liberal or more conservative in order to induce further interaction. Individuals' reactions to others' sexual self-disclosure may provide information about their impression management on Internet sexuality. Further, self-disclosure is contingent upon the intimacy of the topics others disclose (Altman & Taylor, 1973). The relationship between the willingness of corresponding self-disclosure and the intimacy of sexual topics would allow one access to the strategy of impression management on Internet sexuality. In other words, this paper aimed to explore adolescents' impression management by investigating if the intent of their quest for sexual self-disclosure would depend upon the degree of intimacy of sexual topics raised.

METHOD

Participants

The initial sample consisted of 216 youths (ages 16 to 23 years; 52% were males) who had initiated sexual self-disclosure experiences on the Internet. This initial sample was used for scale development and reliability analysis. The population was stratified into three demographic areas: Northern, Central, and Southern Taiwan. Participants were asked to complete a series of questionnaires about their sexual self-disclosure under different levels of anonymity and their reply intent for corresponding sexual self-disclosure with varying intimacy of sexual topics. There were 1,347 adolescents in the formal sample--684 males (51%) and 663 females (49%).

Instrument

The Online Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale for Adolescents (OSSSA) was developed based on the method of Thurstone's type scale (Thurstone, 1925) for obtaining the representative sexual topics on the Internet; this method was also utilized in Yang and Huang's (1980) study on adolescents' self-disclosure. The initial OSSSA consisted of 45 sexual topics according to a pilot survey of chat room discussions, accessing Websites and a Web-searching engine for popular sexual topics on the Internet.

According to the rationale of Thurstone's type scale, the intimacy value (depth of self-disclosure) of each sexual topic was determined first. The initial OSSSA was an 11-point scale that ranged from 0% to 100%. Participants were asked to rate "their willingness to self-disclose with what percentage of people they know about" with regard to a certain sexual topic. Subjects selected from 0%, 10% and so on to 100% and offered the scores of 10, 9 and so on to 0. For example, if participants were not willing to self-disclose the particular sexual topic with anyone, they would choose 0% and obtain 10 points for this sexual topic, which means that the intimacy value of this item is the highest. On the other hand, if participants were willing to self-disclose that item with anyone they know, they would choose 100% and obtain 0 points of intimacy value. The scorings for other percentages of self-disclosure follow accordingly.

The next step is to compute the median (Mdn) and the quartile deviation (Q) of each sexual topic. According to the scale development of Thurstone's Type, the formal items of the OSSSA were selected based on their Mdns to cover the continuum of intimacy. Since Q is a measure of variation, a larger Q represents the inconsistency of judgment. Thus, the sexual topic with a smaller Q was chosen when there are two or more items with approximately the same Mdns. The formal version of the OSSSA consisted of 15 sexual topics with various intimacy values ranging from the lowest to highest and consistent judgments (see Table 1). These sexually disclosing topics were used for subsequent investigation on the effect of anonymity on adolescents' willingness to self-disclose and the impact of intimacy on their reply intent for corresponding self-disclosure.

Willingness for sexual self-disclosure. As to the measurement of the deindividuation effect on adolescents' willingness for sexual-disclosure in the formal survey, respondents were asked to rate their willingness on each topic in cyberspace under varying levels of anonymity. According to a preliminary study (the initial sample) on adolescents' evaluations on the anonymity of disclosing conditions, three conditions with varying levels of anonymity were chosen: web camera (low), picture (moderate), and nickname (high). Participants' responses under different levels of anonymity were rated on an 11-point scale ranging from very likely to least likely. Each participant has three willingness scores of sexual self-disclosure under the low, moderate, and high levels of anonymity. Higher scores under a particular anonymity condition represent adolescents' greater willingness for sexual self-disclosure on the Internet. The internal consistencies (Cronbach's Alpha) were .90 for low anonymity, .96 for moderate anonymity, and .97 for high anonymity, respectively.

Reply intent for sexual disclosure. With respect to responding intent for sexual disclosure, participants were asked to rate their willingness for corresponding self-disclosure when they receive interactive partners' sexual disclosure information on each topic of the OSSSA. Their responses were assessed on an 11-point scale ranging from very likely to least likely. The 15 topics of the OSSSA were classified under three levels of intimacy according to values obtained in the scale development. Five topics (pornography, sexual fantasy, contraceptive use, orgasm, and sexual orientation) for which intimacy values were below 3 belonged to the low intimacy domain; five other topics (intercourse styles, venereal diseases, sexual harassment, cybersex, and masturbation) for which intimacy values ranged from 3 to 7 belonged to the moderate intimacy domain; the last five topics (one-night stand, sexual transactions, erotic agents, paraphilias, and sexual dysfunctions) for which intimacy values were above 7 belonged to the high intimacy domain.

Participants' mean scores of reply intent were later computed for each domain. Higher scores indicated higher intent for responding to cyber partners' sexual disclosure. The internal consistencies (Cronbach's Alpha) were .89 for their responses in the low-intimacy domain, .92 in the moderate-intimacy domain, and .97 in the high-intimacy domain.

RESULTS

Gender Differences and Anonymity on Sexual Self-Disclosure

ANOVA of a 2 (gender: male vs. female) x 2 (anonymity: low vs. moderate vs. high) mixed factorial design was conducted to examine the interaction of gender and anonymity on adolescents' willingness for sexual self-disclosure in which gender was treated as a between-subjects factor and anonymity was treated as a repeated-measure factor (see Table 2).

The main effect of gender was significant (F(1, 1345) = 179.33, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .19), which indicated that male participants (M = 4.99, SD = 1.73) exhibited a higher willingness for self-disclosing sexual information on the Internet than did females (M = 3.73, SD = 1.72). An omnibus ANOVA of these ratings yielded a significant main effect of anonymity (F(2, 2690) = 2731.64, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .67). A linear trend analysis (Keppel, 1991) indicated that participants' willingness for sexual self-disclosure was highest under the high anonymity condition (M = 7.72, SD = 3.51) and lowest in the low anonymity condition (M = 1.57, SD = 1.31), with the moderate anonymity condition in between (M = 3.81, SD = 2.35), (F(1, 1345) = 3708.24, p < .01, [[eta].sup.2] = .73). However, a significant interaction was obtained, F(2, 2690) = 7.52, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .01. According to the effect size of subsequent analyses of simple main effect, the findings indicated that gender differences were highest in the low anonymity condition (F(1, 1345) = 172.14, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .11) and lowest in the high anonymity condition (F(1, 1345) = 63.70, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .04), with the moderate anonymity condition in between (F(1, 1345) = 128.29, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .08).

Interplay between Gender and Topic Intimacy on Reply Intent

Participants' data on reply intent for corresponding self-disclosure was submitted to 2 (gender: male vs. female) x 2 (topic intimacy: low vs. moderate vs. high) mixed factorial design, in which gender was treated as a between-subjects factor and topic intimacy was treated as a repeated-measure factor (see Table 3).

A significant main effect of gender (F(1, 1345) = 154.45, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] =. 10) indicated that male participants (M = 5.40, SD = 2.90) exhibited higher reply intent for corresponding self-disclosure when receiving partners' sexual self-disclosure on the Internet than did females (M = 3.44, SD = 2.90). An omnibus ANOVA also yielded a significant main effect of topic (F(2, 2690) = 175.70, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .11). A linear trend analysis indicated that participants' reply intent for corresponding self-disclosure was highest when partners' disclosing topics were in the high intimacy domain (M = 4.85, SD = 3.40) and lowest when they were in the low intimacy domain (M = 4.18, SD = 3.00); it was in between when they were in the moderate intimacy domain (M = 4.26, SD = 3.11), (F(1, 1345) = 194.05, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .12).

More importantly, the analysis also revealed a significant topic intimacy by gender interaction (F(2, 183.96) = 27.07, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .12). Subsequent analyses showed that the simple main effect of topic intimacy was significant for male participants (F(2, 1366) = 446.37, p < .001, [[eta].sup.2] = .40), but not for females (F(2, 1324) = 1.71, ns). These findings indicated that the effect of topic intimacy on reply intent was prominent only for male participants.

DISCUSSION

Gender and Deindividuation Effect on Sexual Self-Disclosure

This research revealed that when the anonymity of disclosing condition was higher, adolescents' willingness to actively sexual self-disclose on the Internet was higher. The finding was consistent with the previous finding in regard to the effect of anonymity on users' self-presentation in cyberspace (e.g., Wallace, 2001); it also indicated that the deindividuation effect might play an important role in adolescents' sexual self-disclosure on the Internet. Diener (1979) argued that anonymous conditions produce a loss of self-awareness and that this loss is the key element that facilitates deindividuation. Lin and Yeh (1999) found that anonymous users would feel less constraint in confiding their private thoughts to interactive partners when having cyber sex. Thus, in the disclosing condition with high anonymity, adolescents were more likely to self-disclose such private areas as personal sexual preferences. As anonymity increases, so does the willingness to sexually self-disclose. Furthermore, self-disclosure has been thought to be an indicator of intimacy in interpersonal relations, and may also induce interpersonal attraction (e.g., Altman & Taylor, 1973; Jourard, 1971). Therefore, the deindividuation effect and anonymity may serve as crucial mediators of adolescents' engagement in Internet sexuality as well as their development of interpersonal relations in cyberspace.

However, a gender by anonymity interaction was found in this research--that male adolescents were more likely to disclose personal sexuality than were females, and the gender differences were greater as the anonymity decreased. Males were less subject to the deindividuation effect than were females. Previous research found that females are more willing to offer deeper self-exposure, particularly about intimate topics (e.g., Dindia & Allen, 1992; Reisman, 1990; Yang & Huang, 1980). The results of the present study indicate that, on the contrary, male adolescents self-disclosed sexuality more liberally than did females. This is consistent with previous findings that male students are more active in OSA (Cooper et al., 1999; Weiser, 2000).

Further, Yuan's (2002) study of Taiwanese women's usage of sex chat rooms on the Internet found that most of them feel that cyberspace is not safe and is unreal. When seeking sexual pleasure and gratification in a so-called liberated space, such as the Internet, they are still restricted by the gender power structures of the real world. The rules concerning gender roles in a patriarchal society seem to govern how these female users act, and that they suffer even more sexual harassment, discrimination, and scrutinization from men in the cyber society. The present research results echo Yuan's findings and also indicate that, even in the anonymous and private cyberspace, male adolescents self-disclosed more on sexuality topics than did females. Thus, the findings about gender differences in sexual self-disclosure seemed to reveal that female adolescents were still more sensitive about disclosing personal sexuality. Females are more constrained or repressed about their sexuality.

Adolescents" Response to Sexual Disclosure on the Internet

The present study found that males were more likely to respond to cyber partners' sexual disclosure. Again, this finding indicated that male adolescents are more active in exchanging sexual self-disclosure, in keeping with previous findings related to sexuality and gender differences (Cooper et al., 1999; Weiser, 2000; Yuan, 2002). More importantly, the greater the intimacy of partners' sexual topics, the greater the males' responding intent. However, the effect of topic intimacy on corresponding self-disclosure was not pronounced for female students. In other words, males' corresponding self-presentation was closely related to the intimacy of partners' disclosing topics, whereas females' responding intent was not contingent upon topic intimacy.

From the perspective of impression management in cyberspace, the Internet may modify individuals' self-presentation in order to obtain further interaction and development of a relationship (Wallace, 2001). However, a gender by topic intimacy interaction on adolescents' responding to partners' sexual disclosure seemed to reveal that males tend to adopt a reciprocal strategy in responding to cyber partners' sexual disclosure. That is, as the intimacy of partners' disclosing topics increased, their responding intent for corresponding self-disclosure became higher. On the other hand, female students' responding intent (M = 3.44) was not affected by partners' topic intimacy and approximated the low end of the scale. Thus, the finding about female students' responding intent indicated that they tend to adopt a conservative strategy in responding to cyber partners' sexual disclosure, which is consistent with the finding that females feel that cyberspace is unsafe (Yuan, 2002).

Limitations

Since the participants in this study are Taiwanese adolescents, culture relativity in the development of sexual attitudes and practices must be taken into account. Thus generalization of the present findings should be made with caution. For example, Chinese individuals tend to avoid giving the impression of strong sexual desire and preferences to others and exhibit greater anxiety in the area of sexuality than do those in Western cultures with more liberal attitudes (Yu & Gu, 1987). Therefore, gender differences in sexual self-disclosure found here may be enhanced due to the greater degree of sexual repression of Chinese women in a patriarchal society (Yuan, 2002). In Western cultures, the extent of gender differences might be less or nonexistent.

In addition, caution is needed when one takes generational and time-of-measurement factors into consideration. The present study employed a cross-sectional approach, which consisted of a particular cohort and a single time of measurement. Participants from a specific cohort limit the generalizability of results. A cohort-sequential design sample from different cohorts (i.e., years of birth) that tests them repeatedly across the span of ages might provide more information regarding the effect of age and cohort. Further, adolescents' sexual attitudes or practices may be subject to historical events. With respect to the potential confound of time-of-measurement factors, a time-lag design which studies adolescents across several time-of-measurements (i.e., samples measured in 2005, 2010, and 2015) might provide information about whether their sexual self-disclosure is associated with major events or changes in social trends. In addition, since personal sexuality is relatively private, and all measures were self-report, their validity depends on the accuracy and honesty of reporting by the participants.

Future Directions

This study indicated that anonymity impacts adolescents' willingness for sexual self-disclosure in cyberspace. In any attempt to examine the effect of intervention toward OSAs or pathological online sexuality (e.g., sexual transaction, sexual abuse, or sexual crimes), anonymity and deindividuation effect are critically important issues. Interpersonal self-disclosure is essentially dynamic; it would be affected by the development of relationships (Derlega, Metts, Petronio, & Margulis, 1993). Future research should examine the influence of such factors as acquaintance, intimacy, qualitative and quantitative features of the disclosed information, interactive frequency, and expectations on the dynamic development of sexual self-disclosure in cyberspace through dyad analysis.

Based upon the previous studies, females were more likely to become the targets of self-disclosure in real life (Reis, Senchak, & Solomon, 1985; Snell et al., 1988). The female-female dyad exhibited the highest self-disclosure rate, whereas the male-male dyad exhibited the least self-disclosure on intimate topics (Dolgin & Minowa, 1997; Dolgin, Meyer, & Schwartz, 1991). Since the present study found that sexual self-disclosure on the Internet showed prominent gender differences, future research might further investigate the impact of gender on adolescents' sexual self-disclosure, and more deeply explore whether pair relationships of different genders exhibit different responses to sexual topics in cyberspace with regard to the socialization of gender roles, sexual stereotypes, and the strategies of impression management. Further, in order to understand where gender differences come from, future research might explore such socialization factors as gender roles, sex stereotypes, sexual repression, religiosity, and sexist attitudes and their influence on adolescents' sexual self-disclosure in cyberspace.

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This study was supported by a grant from the National Science Council of the Republic of China. The author thanks Chin-Sheng Wan for his comments on the draft of this paper.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Wen-Bin Chiou, General Education Center, National Kaohsiung Hospitality College, No. 1, Sung-Ho Rd., Kaohsiung 812, Taiwan, ROC. E-mail: seanchiou@mail.nkhc.edu.tw Table 1 Intimacy Values (Medians and Quartile Deviations) on the Online Sexual Self-Disclosure Scale for Adolescents (OSSSA) OSSSA Item Mdn Q Low Intimacy Domain Pornography 0.96 0.39 Sexual fantasy 1.08 0.49 Contraception 1.98 0.59 Orgasm 2.13 0.68 Sexual orientation 2.97 0.88 Moderate Intimacy Domain Intercourse styles 3.15 0.79 Venereal diseases 4.11 0.89 Sexual harassment 5.03 0.87 Cybersex 5.97 0.69 Masturbation 6.81 1.15 High Intimacy Domain One-night stand 7.07 0.88 Sexual transactions 7.52 1.12 Erotic agents 8.07 1.01 Paraphilias 8.45 0.96 Sexual dysfunctions 9.04 0.78 Note. Intimacy values range from 0 to 10, with higher values representing higher intimacy. Table 2 Adolescents' Willingness for Sexual Self-Disclosure by Gender and Anonymity Anonymity Gender Low Moderate High Male (n = 684) M 2.02 4.49 8.45 SD 1.20 2.49 3.02 Female (n = 663) M 1.13 3.10 6.95 SD 1.27 1.97 3.79 Note. Participants' willingness for sexual self-disclosure was rated on an 11-point scale from least likely (1) to very likely (11) Table 3 Adolescents' Reply Intent for Corresponding Self-Disclosure by Gender and Topic Intimacy Topic Intimacy Gender Low Moderate High Male (n = 684) M 4.96 5.01 6.23 SD 2.70 2.86 3.15 Female (n = 663) M 3.39 3.49 3.42 SD 3.08 3.18 3.05 Note. Participants' reply intent for corresponding self-disclosure was rated on an 11-point scale from least likely (1) to very likely (11).