Abstract: In the context of the Internet environment, “adolescents’ identity experiments” refers to a series of actions conducted via the internet whereby adolescents construct identity through self-representation and self-exploration. Many factors induce adolescents to carry out their identity experiments on the internet, such as the perceived advantages of online communication, adolescents’ personality, identity status, motivation and so on. Adolescents experiment with their identity in synchronous chatting, on social networking sites and through online games, all of which make significant contributions to their identity development. Future study should focus on adolescents’ identity experiments influenced by different internet environments as well as social comparison. Besides, it will be necessary to explore the deeper mechanisms of identity experiments via longitudinal and cross-cultural research.

Key words: adolescents, internet, identity experiments, self-representation, self-exploration