Gender Differences in Social Support on Social Network Sites: A Meta-Analysis.

Social network sites (SNS) have become an increasingly popular platform for providing and receiving social support. Traditionally, females are believed to offer more social support. However, investigations of both the offline and online domains have revealed mixed findings. This meta-analysis attempts to assess the presence and magnitude of gender differences in social support on SNS. A literature review produced a sample of 30 independent studies with 17,000 participants. Results showed that females on SNS give (d = 0.36) and receive (d = 0.14) greater social support than do males. This is the first meta-analysis to test for and demonstrate gender differences in social support, either offline or online.