Developmental Implications of Children\u27s Virtual Worlds

As virtual worlds for children increase in popularity, it is important to examine their developmental implications. Given the limited research on this question, we use extant social science research on youth and digital media to understand how children \u27s participation in virtual worlds might mediate their development. We identify four different pathways by which new media can potentially mediate development. Then we review relevant research on video games, which, like virtual worlds, contain three-dimensional online fantasy worlds; we also review research on online communication forums, which are like virtual worlds in that they allow users to create online selves and interact with one another. These studies also provide concrete examples of the pathways by which media influence development. We examine three specific questions about children \u27s use of virtual worlds: what they typically do in them, their learning potential, and whether virtual world participation mediates development. We conclude that children\u27s virtual world activities resemble their offline ones, indicating that their offline and online worlds may be connected. The potentialforl earningf rom virtual worldp articipationi s as yet unknown and requires further research. Children\u27s online selves are connected to their offline ones and this has implications for their safety; although their interactions in virtual worlds appear to mirror offline patterns, we do not as yet know their potential benefits or costs. The Article concludes that although children\u27s virtual world activities and interactions may be connected to their offline lives, there are several pressing questions about their participation that must be addressed

Maternal cultural orientation and speech sound production in Spanish/English dual Language preschoolers

Empirical work has shown that maternal education is related to children’s language outcomes, especially in the societal language, among Spanish-English bilingual children growing up in the U.S. However, no study thus far has assessed the links between maternal cultural orientation and children’s speech sound production. This paper explores whether mothers’ orientation to American (acculturation) and Mexican culture (enculturation) and overall linear acculturation are related to children’s accuracy of production of consonants, of different sound classes, and of phonemes shared and unshared between languages in both English and Spanish at age 4;6 (4 years and 6 months). The results reveal a link between maternal acculturation and children’s segmental accuracy in English, but no relation was found between mothers’ enculturation and children’s speech sound production in Spanish. We interpreted the results in English as suggesting that more American-oriented mothers may have been using more English with their children, boosting their English production abilities and promoting English speech sound development. At the same time, we speculate that the results in Spanish were possibly due to the high and homogeneous levels of Mexican orientation among mothers, to language input differences attributable to distinct cultural practices, or to the status of Spanish as a minority language

The impact of computer use on children’s and adolescents’ development

Abstract In recent years, electronic games, home computers, and the Internet have assumed an important place in our lives. This paper presents a review of the research on the impact of home computer use on the development of children and adolescents. Time use data are presented along with a discussion of factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity, which impact the time spent on computers as well as the activities engaged in. Research on the impact of computer use on cognitive skill and academic development, social development and relationships, and perceptions of reality and violent behavior is reviewed. The special role of the Internet in the lives of adolescents is brought out using data from the HomeNet study. The paper concludes with recommendations for future study in order to better understand the growing impact of computers on our youth.

Navigating Identity Uncertainty: Identity Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only recently begun to be explored. Among college students, who were faced with sudden and unprecedented changes and challenges, it is likely that COVID-19 detrimentally impacted the establishment of a sense of self, a key developmental task of the college years. However, no research has examined the relationships among COVID-19 related worries, identity distress, and psychological and academic adjustment. To address these gaps in the current study, we examined the prevalence of identity distress, the relationship between COVID-19 related worries and identity distress, and the direct and indirect associations between COVID-19 related worries and psychological and academic adjustment among a sample of 1627 college students (M-age = 20.51, SD = 2.21). Findings indicated that over a third of the sample reported high levels of identity distress and that COVID-19 related worries were negatively associated, both directly and indirectly through identity distress, with psychological and academic adjustment

Communicating Online: Adolescent Relationships and the Media

Over the past decade, technology has become increasingly important in the lives of adolescents. As a group, adolescents are heavy users of newer electronic communication forms such as instant messaging, e-mail, and text messaging, as well as communication-oriented Internet sites such as blogs, social networking, and sites for sharing photos and videos. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield examine adolescents\u27 relationships with friends, romantic partners, strangers, and their families in the context of their online communication activities. The authors show that adolescents are using these communication tools primarily to reinforce existing relationships, both with friends and romantic partners. More and more they are inte-grating these tools into their offline worlds, using, for example, social networking sites to get more information about new entrants into their offline world

Adolescent Online Communication: Old Issues, New Intensities

Much has been made of the new communication forms that are emerging online and of their popularity among adolescents. Are these new forms fundamentally changing adolescent behavior or are they simply providing new venues for what are “traditionally” adolescent issues? In this talk, I will present findings from studies on two different communication forms to argue that these new Internet forums are being used by adolescents to confront and deal with the changes and developmental issues that they have always faced. Because of the medium’s affordances however, we sometimes see these “old” behaviors in new intensities

Developmental implications of children’s virtual worlds

As virtual worlds for children increase in popularity, it is important to examine their developmental implications. Given the limited research on this question, we use extant social science research on youth and digital media to understand how children \u27s participation in virtual worlds might mediate their development. We identify four different pathways by which new media can potentially mediate development. Then we review relevant research on video games, which, like virtual worlds, contain three-dimensional online fantasy worlds; we also review research on online communication forums, which are like virtual worlds in that they allow users to create online selves and interact with one another. These studies also provide concrete examples of the pathways by which media influence development. We examine three specific questions about children \u27s use of virtual worlds: what they typically do in them, their learning potential, and whether virtual world participation mediates development. We conclude that children\u27s virtual world activities resemble their offline ones, indicating that their offline and online worlds may be connected. The potentialfor learning from virtual world participation is as yet unknown and requires further research. Children\u27s online selves are connected to their offline ones and this has implications for their safety; although their interactions in virtual worlds appear to mirror offline patterns, we do not as yet know their potential benefits or costs. The Article concludes that although children\u27s virtual world activities and interactions may be connected to their offline lives, there are several pressing questions about their participation that must be addressed