The impact of adolescents' identities on virtual and real space

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Communication Sciences, Ardabil branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran

2 Department of Communication Sciences, Ardabil branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran & Department of Partnerships and Communications, Educational Research and Planning Organization, Ministry of Education, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Communication Sciences, Ardabil branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran & Department of Communication Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the The impact of adolescents' identities on virtual and real space, which was done by survey method. The statistical population includes all high school students in the second year of Ardabil province, from which 380 people were selected as a sample by multi-stage cluster sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire based on the theoretical framework of the research was used to collect data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face-to-face and structural validity and some modifications and its reliability was confirmed after calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient and removing some items. Data were analyzed by t-test of two independent groups in SPSS software. The results showed that adolescents in cyberspace had a dual identity in religious, family, sexual, national, ethnic and cultural dimensions. Adolescents' identities were more structured, coherent, and real in real space, and more mobile, unstable, and unstable in cyberspace. An identity that, according to some characteristics, can be called a modern or rethinking identity. Adolescents, in addition to trying to preserve traditional sources of identity in the real world, portrayed themselves as pro-global or cosmopolitan in cyberspace.

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