2,699 research outputs found

    Adolescent internet abuse. A study on the role of attachment to parents and peers in a large community sample

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    Adolescents are the main users of new technologies and theirmain purpose of use is social interaction. Although new technologies are useful to teenagers, in addressing their developmental tasks, recent studies have shown that they may be an obstacle in their growth. Research shows that teenagers with Internet addiction experience lower quality in their relationships with parents and more individual difficulties. However, limited research is available on the role played by adolescents' attachment to parents and peers, considering their psychological profiles.We evaluated in a large community sample of adolescents (N= 1105) the Internet use/abuse, the adolescents' attachment to parents and peers, and their psychological profiles. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to verify the influence of parental and peer attachment on Internet use/abuse, considering the moderating effect of adolescents' psychopathological risk. Results showed that adolescents' attachment to parents had a significant effect on Internet use. Adolescents' psychopathological risk had a moderating effect on the relationship between attachment to mothers and Internet use. Our study shows that further research is needed, taking into account both individual and family variables

    Interneti vÔimalused ja ohud: noorte online-praktikate mÔju nende subjektiivsele heaolule

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    VĂ€itekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioone.Teismelised on ĂŒhed kĂ”ige aktiivsemad internetikasutajad ja internet moodustab loomuliku osa nende igapĂ€evaelust. Kuna internet on siiski suhteliselt uus meedium, mille kasutust ei raamista vĂ€ga kindlad normid, kuid mille noored on vĂ€ga kiirelt ja aktiivselt omaks vĂ”tnud, Ă€rgitab see kĂŒsima, millist mĂ”ju internetikasutus noortele avaldab – kas positiivset vĂ”i negatiivset. Heaolu kontseptsioonist lĂ€htudes on doktoritöös vaatluse all nii internetikasutuse positiivsed kui ka negatiivsed kĂŒljed ning nende mĂ”ju noorte elukvaliteedile. Viimane aspekt on eriti oluline, kuna teismeiga on ĂŒks olulisemaid arenguperioode. Doktoritöös olid vaatluse all noorte online-praktikad – ĂŒhelt poolt blogimine kui positiivne ja teiselt poolt ĂŒlemÀÀrane internetikasutus kui problemaatiline praktika – ning see, kuidas ja missugustel tingimustel need suurendavad vĂ”i vĂ€hendavad noore heaolu. Nii meediumi valikut kui kasutust kujundavad laiemad kontekstuaalsed tegurid nagu vanus, sugu ja sotsiaalne keskkond (nĂ€iteks suhted pere ja eakaaslastega) ning ĂŒhiskondlikud tingimused (kultuuriline tasand), milles inimene elab, aga ka meediumi enda vĂ”i selle rakenduste omadused. Seega vĂ”ib jĂ€reldada, et just kontekst loob ja mÀÀrab internetikasutuse vĂ”imalikud positiivsed vĂ”i negatiivsed tulemid. Internetikasutusel vĂ”ivad olla erinevad tagajĂ€rjed. NĂ€iteks avaldavad noored blogides enamasti tĂ”ele vastavat sisu, millega nad kujundavad enda identiteeti ja hoiavad sotsiaalseid suhteid, vĂ”i mis pakub vĂ”imalust pĂ€lvida tunnustust eakaaslaste hulgas. Samas jagavad noored blogis enda kohta intiimset infot, millel vĂ”ivad olla negatiivsed tagajĂ€rjed. ÜlemÀÀrane internetikasutus on seotud nii psĂŒhholoogiliste probleemide, internetis veedetava aja kui ka noore digitaalsete oskustega ja sellega, mida ta online-keskkonnas teeb. ÜlemÀÀrane internetikasutus vĂ”ib olla ĂŒhelt poolt toimetulekustrateegia, saamaks ĂŒle negatiivsetest emotsioonidest, kuna just noortele ekspertkasutajatele pakub internet mitmesuguseid vĂ”imalusi meelelahutuseks ja tujutĂ”stmiseks. Teiselt poolt vĂ”ib see toimetulekumehhanism avaldada pikemas perspektiivis noore heaolule negatiivset mĂ”ju.Teenagers have become the most prominent users of the Internet as they effortlessly incorporate the medium into their everyday lives. Due to the newness of the medium, only partially settled norms surrounding usage, and intensity with which the online space was adopted by the youth, much attention has been paid to dwell upon whether the usage of the Internet by the young people brings along positive or negative outcomes. The concept of well-being is used in the thesis to simultaneously look both at the positive and negative aspects of Internet use and to ask how these phenomena are related to young people’s quality of life. The latter question is especially important as adolescence is the formative period in young people’s development. The thesis looked at online practices – blogging as a positive side, and excessive Internet use as a problematic one – and how and in what condition they increase or decrease the well-being of the young. The findings suggest that both media choice and usage, as well as the well-being of the young Internet users, are framed by larger contextual factors – age and gender of the user; social environment (e.g. family and peer influence) and societal (cultural level) conditions individuals live in; and the structural characteristics of the medium or its applications. Hence, the thesis suggests that it is the context which creates and defines the positivity and negativity of certain outcomes of Internet usage. For instance, adolescent bloggers primarily stay truthful to their offline selves in their blogs, and hence the practice could be seen as a mechanism for maintaining one’s identity and social contacts, but also as an opportunity to seek prestige and competence among the peer group. At the same time, revealing intimate details about one’s life in a blog can also lead to possible negative consequences. Excessive Internet use among the young is related to psychological distress and the time spent online but also to one’s digital skills and the activities one engages in online. Hence, on the one hand, excessive Internet use may be a coping strategy, especially for more expert young users of the medium, as it offers a wide range of opportunities for mood management and entertainment; on the other hand, it may have negative outcomes on one’s well-being in the long run

    Influence of Childhood Social Media Use on Parental Attachment and Individual Self-Regulation as an Adult

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    The utilization of social media continues to rise as technology becomes more refined. Social media has become a topic for extensive research due to this continuing upward trend of use among its diverse set of users. Evidence indicates that there are positive and negative outcomes that originate from the use of social media, including the inability to self-regulate. Several research articles also indicate that the lack of parental attachment, results in the inability to self-regulate. Research shows that social media has a negative effect on self-regulation, but there is limited data on how this association affects all ages, including adults. This paper will serve as a review of research on parental attachment, social media, and self-regulation and provides a discussion of future possible research that involves emerging adults

    Peer Influence, Family Dysfunction or Conditioning? – An Empirical Analysis of Facebook Addiction Predispositions

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    The high increase of usage rates of Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook are a worldwide phenomenon as are people spending hours in Facebook especially among young adolescents. However, beside their useful and enjoyable features, SNS like Facebook have also proven to have undesired outcomes in terms of technostress, social overload, or even addiction. Addiction as a variable in adoption models has been introduced into the IS community by Turel and Serenko (2011) who operationalized online-auction addiction and assessed its impact on adoption determinants as perceived usefulness. By means of an empirical study of 125 young adults, the present research shifts the focus to the causes of addiction using the example of Facebook. We thereby focus on three groups of addiction predispositions (Family dysfunction, peer influence and behavioral conditioning) and empirically investigate their impact on Facebook addiction

    Childhood emotional abuse and problematic social networking sites use in a sample of Italian adolescents: The mediating role of deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning.

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    Childhood emotional abuse (CEA) is associated with various negative mental health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the association between CEA and problematic social networking site (SNS) use in a sample of Italian adolescents. Using structural equation modeling, the study examined whether the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use was sequentially mediated by self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning in 1308 Italian adolescents (628 males, age range 13-19 years). A history of CEA was positively associated with problematic SNS use. Furthermore, deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning partially mediated the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use. The present study provides additional insight into the psychological dynamics underpinning problematic SNS use among adolescents. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed

    Childhood emotional abuse and problematic social networking sites use in a sample of Italian adolescents: The mediating role of deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning

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    Objective: Childhood emotional abuse (CEA) is associated with various negative mental health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the association between CEA and problematic social networking site (SNS) use in a sample of Italian adolescents. Design: Using structural equation modeling, the study examined whether the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use was sequentially mediated by self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning in 1308 Italian adolescents (628 males, age range 13–19 years). Results: A history of CEA was positively associated with problematic SNS use. Furthermore, deficiencies in self-other differentiation and uncertain reflective functioning partially mediated the relationship between CEA and problematic SNS use. Conclusions: The present study provides additional insight into the psychological dynamics underpinning problematic SNS use among adolescents. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed

    “Belonging without being”: Relationships between problematic gaming, internet use, and social group attachment in adolescence

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    ABSTRACT: Gaming and Internet use are positively associated with benefits for interpersonal relationships in adolescence, with these behaviors when excessive having been negatively linked with positive aspects of interpersonal connections, such as secure attachment. Using a representative sample of 7918 Portuguese adolescents, with ages ranging from 13 to 19 (Mage = 15.5, 53.3% females), and three self-report measures of problematic gaming, problematic Internet use, and social group attachment (secure, anxious, avoidant), this cross-sectional study aimed to examine the associations between problematic gaming, as well as problematic Internet use, and secure and insecure (anxious and avoidant) social group attachment styles, in the groups with and without these problems. In the groups without problematic gaming and without problematic Internet use, excessive gaming and involvement with the Internet were negatively associated with secure social group attachment and positively associated with anxious social group attachment; on the other hand, in the groups with severe levels of these problems, problematic gaming and Internet use were positively associated with secure social group attachment and negatively associated with anxious social group attachment. These results go against what had been initially hypothesized and suggest that in the case of adolescents with severe levels of these problems, they may serve as an effective compensatory mechanism for coping with the negative effects of insecure attachment styles, which in turn likely contributes to the maintenance of problematic gaming and Internet use.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Internet Addiction: a prevention action-research intervention

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    The aim of this paper was to present an action-research intervention for the prevention of Internet addiction (IA) in schools. Applying a pre-experimental research design model, a total of 90 young subjects (45 males and 45 females) were treated using a peer education programme. The Internet Addiction Test was used as a screening tool pre- and post-treatment and analysed using a paired t-test. The results showed a significant positive difference in the post-treatment values for both males and females. This research highlights the link between IA and cultural and social aspects of the disease in addition to discussing the difficulties of IA prevention.&nbsp

    Constant connection: College students’ smartphones attachment and close relationship attachments across domains

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    This study aims to conceptualize the way individuals, more notably college students and emerging adults, use their smartphones, applying an attachment framework. Recently, research has shifted from using vocabulary akin to addiction, and researchers are beginning to see similarities and consistencies in how individuals relate to their phones and how attachment was originally conceptualized in the infant-mother relationship. Moreover, research is moving away from considering attachment as categorical, and is instead considering it continuous, and as varying in domains from individual to individual. This research used a new assessment tool (the YAPS) to assess college students’ attachment to phones, their important relationship attachments (ECR-RS) and their perceived relationship quality (PRQC). Research found that though many important relationship domains, notably parents, were related to smartphone attachment; however, there was no relationship between smartphone attachment and perceived relationship quality or its constructs. Future research should aim to validate the biological attachment between humans and smartphones, as well as tease out any impact smartphones and our attachments to them may have on relationships and our perception and threshold of intimacy
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