Key Dimensions of Contemporary Video Game Literacy: Towards A Normative Model of the Competent Digital Gamer

Recent developments in digital games technology, economy, and content have further expanded the popularity of the medium. At the same time, requirements for competent gaming or digital game literacy need to be reconsidered in the light of the rapid evolution of digital games. The paper outlines three important dimensions of contemporary video game literacy: (1) Resilience against effects of game content on automatic cognition (such as stereotypes and aggressive thinking), (2) the ability to cope with social affordances of multiplayer games, and (3) the ability to manage inertia processes in playing motivation that result in a perceived risk of losing investments of time and effort when deciding against playing. Finally, the importance to substantiate game literacy concepts with scientific theory and empirical research is articulated

Key Dimensions of Contemporary Video Game Literacy: Towards A Normative Model of the Competent Digital Gamer

Recent developments in digital games technology, economy, and content have further expanded the popularity of the medium. At the same time, requirements for competent gaming or digital game literacy need to be reconsidered in the light of the rapid evolution of digital games. The paper outlines three important dimensions of contemporary video game literacy: (1) Resilience against effects of game content on automatic cognition (such as stereotypes and aggressive thinking), (2) the ability to cope with social affordances of multiplayer games, and (3) the ability to manage inertia processes in playing motivation that result in a perceived risk of losing investments of time and effort when deciding against playing. Finally, the importance to substantiate game literacy concepts with scientific theory and empirical research is articulated

Impact of TV Violence on Aggression of Youth; A Comparative Analysis of Male and Female Students of Lahore

This study focuses on impact of TV violence on aggression young viewers of Lahore. For this study 500 (Male, 250 and Female 250) students are taken as a sample size from different universities of Lahore. Data is collected through stratified and convenience sampling technique from the targeted population. Major results indicate the significant difference in exposure to TV violence and aggression of male and female students. Major results of statistical tests male student exposure and attitude to TV violence has significant impact on aggression but exposure of female student has not significant impact on aggression whereas attitude to TV violence has significant impact on aggression. Further, there is also need to set some sort of filters on media contents which are presenting violence

The Easterlin paradox and the decline of social capital: an integrated explanation

During the most recent decades people in industrialised countries have reported both a stagnant or even declining subjective well-being, as Easterlin (1974) originally observed, and deterioration in their social and family bonds, as Putnam (2000) has claimed. The paper proposes an integrated explanation of these two stylised facts by extending the analysis of the relative income explanation of the Easterlin paradox to social relationships as enjoyable ends of choice. Drawing on the evidence-based results of social psychology, the paper constructs a model whose premises are (i) that individuals produce social relationships by means of relational ability, (ii) that this ability is primarily shaped during infancy and remains largely unpredictable, and (iii) that commercial pressure on children to consume in competition with others may displace the enjoyment of social relationships. The model extends microfoundations to encompass new psychological dimensions. It is thus able to merge individuals’ idiosyncratic dynamics – which may deteriorate across generations – with improving economic contextual conditions, and to indicate some new priorities in policy options.happiness, well-being, relational goods, personal relationships, attachment, unconscious

The Role of Perceived Peer Norms in the Relationship Between Media Violence Exposure and Adolescents' Aggression

This study investigates the role of a social context variable, perceived peer norms, in the relationship between media violence exposure and adolescents' aggressive behavior. This was informed by a need to better understand whether, how, and for whom, media violence exposure may affect aggression. Three hypotheses were tested with peer norms as moderator, as mediator, and as both moderator and mediator in the relationship between media violence and aggression. A two-wave longitudinal survey measured media violence exposure, perceived descriptive and injunctive norms, and aggressive behavior among 943 adolescents (aged 10?14, 50.4% girls). Results provided support only for the moderated-mediation model. The indirect effect of media violence on aggression via perceived peer approval of aggression (i.e., injunctive norms) was moderated by perceived prevalence of peer aggression (i.e., descriptive norms). Specifically, media violence indirectly increased aggressive behavior for adolescents who perceived more peer aggression, but decreased aggression for adolescents who perceived less peer aggression. Implications for future research into media violence effects are discussed

Self-reported health and social alienation in Swedish adolescents: A cross-sectional study among high-school students in Stockholm

Background: Adolescents' health-damaging behaviors and social alienation of young people are recognized as public-health problems. One of the hypotheses that is emerging and evolving in the sociology, physiology, and health fields is that individuals with a great feeling of alienation are at risk of mental health problems and present negative health-risk behaviors. Objectives: This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between the feeling of social alienation and selfreported health. The first sub-study aims to provide an appropriate social alienation scale for use in the Swedish context and among adolescents. The second and third sub-studies aim to explore social alienation and the selfreported health status of Stockholm’s high-school students by examining the role of age, sex, and immigration background. The fourth sub-study investigates the relationship between self-reported health and the feeling of social alienation. The final sub-study investigates the relationship between the feeling of alienation and mental health by examining the role of socio-economic factors. Materials: The thesis is built around five articles through the analysis of data gathered with the Nottingham health profile (NHP) and the Jessor and Jessor social alienation scale. The data were collected from eight high schools in Stockholm, and the number of participants was 446 (age = 15–19; SD = 1.01; mean = 17). Results: The Jessor and Jessor alienation scale translated to Swedish and several validity methods such as translation and back-translation and face, content, and construct validity were used. A stability and interconsistency test was also performed to examine the reliability of the scale. The overall result of the abovementioned tests indicated that the Swedish version of the alienation scale is an adequate and valid questionnaire to use among adolescents (Article I). Age was found to be associated with the feeling of alienation and mental health, and students aged 17 demonstrated fewer mental-health problems and a lower feeling of alienation (Article II and V). Sex was shown to be one of the main significant variables in regard to self-reported health and contributes to a larger number of self-reported problems; also, female students reported more health problems than male students (Article III and V). These differences were much larger amongst immigrant students. Native Swedish females reported significantly more health problems about two aspects of health (energy level and emotional reaction) than native Swedish males, whereas the female students from an immigrant background reported significantly higher self-reported problems on other dimensions as well (isolation, physical mobility, and pain).The immigration background was found to be a significant variable in self-reported health and feeling of alienation (Article II, III, & V). Students with an immigrant background reported significantly more self-reported problems with sleep, pain, emotional reaction, and energy level (Article III). They also have larger health problems, in particular mental health problems (Article V). Students from non-Swedish parents (in particular from a Middle-Eastern origin) reported significantly more health problems in comparison with native Swedish students (Article V). Students with an immigrant background also significantly reported a stronger feeling of social alienation than Swedish natives, and the level of feeling of alienation was much higher among the first generation of immigrants (Article II). Neighborhood characteristics, such as home area and home type, were also found to be a significant variable on self-reported mental health. No significant differences about feeling of alienation and self-reported health were observed with respect to parents’ educational level (Article II &V). Finally, alienation was found as a mediating variable between selfreported mental health and self-reported physical health (Article IV & V). The more severe mental health problems are associated with a higher feeling of alienation, and the feeling of alienation is associated with selfreported physical health problems (Article IV & V). Conclusion: The results described in this thesis highlight that, in general, female students report more health problems than male students, and the contrast is larger among the students with an immigrant background. The finding shows that the feeling of alienation and self-reported health problems are higher among students with immigrant background, regardless of the country of origin, and self-reported health problems are higher among students from the Middle East. The results also indicate a strong association between the feeling of alienation and having more self-reported mental health problems; this suggests the mediating role of the feeling of alienation between mental health and physical health