Negotiating Social Belonging: Online, Offline, and In-Between

This study investigates contemporary college students´ social behavior on- and offline. Although being socially active typically enhances access to resources embedded in social networks and improves student performance, the relative contributions of a range of social activities to students´ social and academic lives remain unclear. Additionally, the broad adoption of communication technologies such as cell phones and Internet-based applications including social networking sites (SNSs) is changing the way people manage their social lives. In light of these changes, the current study explores the relationship between a variety of social activities, perceived support and performance outcomes. Results suggest that a range of activities significantly correlated with student outcomes. Mediated relationships via SNSs had a positive influence on perceived social support, whereas time spend communicating face-to-face demonstrated a positive relationship with satisfaction.