Are Lonely Undergraduate Students Avoiding Communicating in Real Life but Vigorous in Facebook?
Kai Yee Hon, Bee Seok Chua
Abstract
The emergence of the social networking sites (SNSs), especially Facebook as a new communication tool has
changed the way of communication today. However, little is known about the impact of using Facebook for
communication and the psychology attribute. The present study aimed to examine: 1) the differences between
lonely students and not lonely students in Facebook use, unwillingness-to-communicate, and 2) the effect of
Facebook use and loneliness on unwillingness-to-communicate among undergraduate students. A total sample of
468 undergraduate students (age 19 to 25) was participated in this study. Facebook Use Measure, Unwillingnessto-
Communicate Scale and UCLA Loneliness Scale were used to measure the variables. Overall, results showed
that: 1) lonely students were more likely to fear and perceived less reward in communicating face-to-face and 2)
loneliness was more dominant to predict face-to-face communication instead of Facebook use.
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