Online self-disclosure and wellbeing of adolescents: A systematic literature review
This review identifies gaps in research on adolescent online behavior, which is incremental as it synthesizes existing work without new empirical findings.
This systematic literature review examined the extent of online self-disclosure among adolescents, finding that existing studies are limited in scope and depth, with some aspects overemphasized and others neglected.
The present research investigated the extent of online self-disclosure (SD) of adolescents through a systematic decadal literature review. This review identified three major areas of research focus, with studies categorized mainly as: (1) factors contributing to online SD of adolescents; (2) risks and consequences of online SD; and (3) future directions of research and practical interventions to address the problems. A detailed examination of the variables covered by the studies indicated that only a few aspects related to adolescents' online SD were addressed and these variables did not receive in-depth analysis. Some aspects of online SD received too much attention while others received none. Based on these findings, the present research argues that further research using sophisticated scientific research designs is needed to understand adolescents' online SD.