Predicting the use of Virtual Social Networks based on Identity Styles in Qom students

The aim of this study is to predict the use of virtual social networks based on identity styles in high school students in Qom.

This research is a description of multivariate correlation in terms of applied purpose and in terms of how to collect information. The statistical population of the present study consisted of all-female high school students in the second district of Qom. 347 people were selected as a sample by the random-cluster sampling method through the Cochran sampling formula. Data was collected through the standard questionnaires of virtual social networks identity styles of Hejazi, Namdari, Ghasemi, and Moghadamzadeh (2016) and Berzonsky (1992). The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by face and content validity methods and their reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient (r1= 0.83 and r2= 0.91).

The mean scores of identity styles were higher than average level and the use of social networks was at the average level. On the other hand, the findings showed that there was a significant relationship between identity styles (information, confusion-avoidance, commitment) and the use of social networks among female high school students in Qom. However, there was an inverse and significant relationship between normative identity style and the use of social networks and also 24.5% of the changes related to the variance of identity styles are affected by the components of the use of social networks.

New means of communication and information bring about changes in one's perceptions and put identities in a new state that is different from the past and sometimes even contradictory. Social society reveals the unstable, changeable and flexible identity of the new man.