The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between psychological wellbeing and Internet use among adolescents, focussing not only on time spent on the Internet, but also on the relative strength/importance of both face-to-face and Internet friendship networks. A sample of 336 young people aged between 15 and 21 years from a secondary school and a university population were surveyed. Results indicated that females with more online friends were higher on selfesteem and lower on loneliness than females with fewer online friends, but the opposite was true for males. A higher number of online regular friendships seemed to militate against self-esteem and was related to greater loneliness for males. For face-to-face friendships, the effects on wellbeing were in the same direction for males and females, but stronger for males. Those with more face-to-face friendships were higher on self-esteem and less lonely. In addition, young men who rated their online friendship networks as very important were more likely to have lower self-esteem and to be lonely. Actual time spent on the Internet was not a predictor of wellbeing for either sex when online and offline friendship factors were included in the regression equation.

Contradictory evidence exists regarding the benefit of the Internet for social and personal wellbeing, with some studies indicating deleterious effects and others possible social enrichment. The potential for increased social isolation from ‘overinvolvement’ in online activities or, conversely, the Internet's possibilities for enhancing social relationships, may be particularly salient during young adulthood and adolescence because of the special importance of the peer group during this developmental phase. This study was an investigation of the relationships between the levels of identity development, Internet use and social anxiety among a sample of 161 older adolescents/young adults aged between 18 and 25. Results indicated that, for males only, higher levels of social anxiety and less mature identity statuses were associated with more frequent Internet use, specifically time spent in chatrooms, online browsing for personal use, and games. For females (who were in this sample less socially anxious, more identity-developed, and lower users of the Internet than males), social anxiety and identity status were not significantly associated with time spent online. Discussion centred around the potential roles of Internet use in reinforcing already-existing social anxiety or, alternatively, in supporting and maintaining social contacts in those with lower levels of social deficit.

With the recent exponential increase in Internet use, there are concerns about obstacles to gaining access to this potentially beneficial technology. To understand the psychological factors that might be offering barriers to Internet use, the present study considered age, attitudes towards computers, gender, education and social isolation as potential predictors of Internet usage. A sample of 158 adults completed questionnaires about computer anxiety, loneliness and Internet use. Time spent in activities associated with entertainment, communication, information searches and commerce, and overall time spent on the Internet were analysed using multiple regression. It was difficult to predict overall Internet use, but possible to predict specific categories of use. Better-educated participants were more likely to use the Internet for communication. Men, the young, and the lonely used the Internet more for entertainment. Those with lower computer anxiety used the Internet for information searches, and men were more likely than women to use the Internet for commercial purposes. It is suggested that computer anxiety and education may constrain the use of specific applications but Internet use otherwise follows pre-existing tendencies or interests.

While flirting is a relatively underresearched area within psychology, even less is known about how people cyber-flirt. This paper explores how often individuals flirt offline compared to online. Moreover, it attempts to examine how men and women flirt within these different spaces. Five thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven individuals, of which 3554 (62%) were women and 2143 (38%) were men, completed a survey about their flirting behaviour both in face-to-face interactions and in chatrooms. The first hypothesis, which stated that the body would be used to flirt with as frequently online as offline, was partly supported. However, it was found that individuals downplayed the importance of physical attractiveness online. Women flirted by displaying nonverbal signals (offline) or substitutes for nonverbal cues (online), to a greater extent than men. In chatrooms men were more likely than women to initiate contact. It is concluded that cyber-flirting is more than simply a meeting of minds and that future research needs to consider the role of the body in online interactions.

The number of personal relationships occurring via the Internet is increasing as more people gain access to it. Many of these relationships are romantic in nature, and evidence is accumulating that they have the potential to have an adverse effect on existing face-to-face relationships. This study explored the formation of romantic relationships on their Internet, their nature, and their possible impact on existing marital or de facto relationships in a sample of 75 adults (mean age 42 years, SD = 11.1 years) who responded to an online survey of individuals involved in extradyadic relationships on the Internet. Respondents reported a variety of means of contacting their online partner. More females than males communicated with them daily. Most respondents knew what their partner looked like, most had contacted them by telephone, and a third had met them. Most reported more satisfaction with their online relationship than with their face-to-face one, though few said that it was more important to them than their primary relationship. Although only a quarter of the sample admitted that their online relationship had affected their primary one, those participants reported concealing the truth about the time or nature of their activities, that everyday tasks did not get done, and that levels of sexual intimacy with their primary partner had dropped. The nature of these and other problems suggests that therapists should be aware of the potential for Internet relationships to seriously affect face-to-face relationships.

Psychological sense of community (PSOC) was studied within two types of virtual community and one type of community of place. Fifty-six members of these community groups completed the Sense of Community Index (SCI). An analysis of variance found partial support for the initial hypotheses with the intentional-community-of-place group scoring significantly higher on the SCI than the location-oriented virtual community. The results were discussed in the context of 3 PSOC correlates of depth of disclosure, reciprocity and shared interests/experience. It was concluded that virtual communities may contribute to overall PSOC.