Excessive internet use by young Europeans: psychological vulnerability and digital literacy?

This paper combines clinical-psychological and digital literacy frameworks to shed new light on explanations for excessive Internet use (EIU). The combination of these opposing approaches leads to a more comprehensive explanation of intense use with negative outcomes. A survey with a random sample of 18,709 Internet-using children between 11 and 16 years old was carried out in 25 European countries. The study shows that there are interactional and indirect relationships between psychological and digital literacy variables and EIU. Psychologically vulnerable children with higher levels of digital engagement have the most negative outcomes while the least at risk are non-vulnerable children with high levels of literacy (interactional relationship). In reality, psychologically vulnerable children’s risk of negative outcomes is exacerbated by their tendency to spend more time online but countered by their lower literacy levels (contradicting direct and indirect relationships). Among those who are not vulnerable, digital literacy is weakly related to negative outcomes. The implications of these results for future research are that explanations for EIU should incorporate psychological and digital literacy indicators. Practical implications are that clinical psychologists working with EIU should consider digital literacy in developing interventions and that digital inclusion interventions should consider the potential negative impact of increased Internet use on vulnerable young people. This paper’s original contribution lies in showing that whether intense Internet use is related to negative outcomes depends on the psychological characteristics of the child

Excessive Internet Use Among Australian Children

This brief report builds upon the findings of the EU Kids Online project’s work into Excessive Internet Use among the 19,834 European children (aged 11-16) participating in that study. It compares the European data with the much smaller cohort of 300 Australian children (aged 11-16) who were researched in the parallel AU Kids Online project. In both cases the children were selected according to a random sampling strategy. The full EU Kids Online report includes the research methodology and can be accessed via: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20II%20(2009- 11)/EUKidsOnlineIIReports/D4FullFindings.pdf The full AU Kids Online report can be accessed via: http://cultural-science.org/journal/index.php/culturalscience/article/view/49/129 The EU Kids Online Excessive Internet Use report can be found at http://www2.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/EU%20Kids%20Online%20report s.aspx Its authors are David Šmahel (Masaryk University, Czech Republic); Ellen Helsper (London School of Economics, UK); Lelia Green (Edith Cowan University, Australia); Veronika Kalmus (University of Tartu, Estonia); Lukas Blinka (Masaryk University, Czech Republic) and Kjartan Ólafsson (University of Akureyri, Iceland and Masaryk University, Czech Republic). The EU Kids Online Excessive Internet Report builds upon the work of the ‘EU Kids Online’ network funded by the EC (DG Information Society) Safer Internet plus Programme (project code SIP-KEP-321803); see www.eukidsonline.net. The parallel Australian research is funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. This report draws upon the EU Kids Online Excessive Internet Use report, and upon the research of the authors acknowledged above

EU Kids Online 2020: technical report

This report describes in detail the methodology used for the EU Kids Online IV project (see the description of the four phases of the project in the next section). Within this project, a large-scale survey of children aged 9–17 from 19 European countries was conducted. The data were collected between autumn 2017 and summer 2019 from 25,101 children by national teams from the EU Kids Online network. This report provides information about the nature of the project, how the questionnaire was developed, sampling and data collection, ethical issues, data management and weighting. The information in this report should enable dataset users to understand the logic and nature of the survey. For dataset users, we also recommend using the ‘Data Dictionary’ (available at eukidsonline.net), a related document that systematically maps all the information related to the data in the dataset. Moreover, Annex 2 of this report provides concise key guidelines for dataset users. We highly recommend using these short guidelines during work with the EU Kids Online 2020 dataset. Annex 3 contains a description of the key variables. Full questionnaires and their national forms are available at eukidsonline.net

EU Kids Online 2020: survey results from 19 countries

This report presents the findings from a survey of children aged 9–16 from 19 European countries. The data were collected between autumn 2017 and summer 2019 from 25,101 children by national teams from the EU Kids Online network. A theoretical model and a common methodology to guide this work was developed during four phases of the network’s work, and is discussed at the outset of this report. The main findings from the key topic areas are summarised, which correspond to the factors identified in the theoretical model: Access, Practices and skills, Risks and opportunities, and Social context. Throughout the report, findings are presented according to the countries surveyed, and the gender and age of the children. The survey findings are comparable across countries, and the methodology section presents the common methods followed

Theoretical Integration of ySKILLS:Towards a New Model of Digital Literacy

This report integrates findings from various ySKILLS deliverables into a new model, unravelling their theoretical implications. Our team developed a new theoretical model, where digital literacy mediates between antecedents and consequences, with the broader concept of digital literacy at the core rather than digital skills

Sociodemographic, Attitudinal, and Behavioral Correlates of Using Nutrition, Weight Loss, and Fitness Websites : An Online Survey

Background: Nutrition, diet, and fitness are among the most searched health topics by internet users. Besides that, health-related internet users are diverse in their motivations and individual characteristics. However, little is known about the individual characteristics associated with the usage of nutrition, weight loss, and fitness websites. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the individual factors associated with the usage of nutrition, weight loss, and fitness websites. Methods: An invitation to an online survey was published on 65 websites and discussion forums. In total, we employed data from 623 participants (aged 13 to 39 years, mean 24.11 [SD 5.26]). The measures included frequency of usage of nutrition, weight loss and fitness websites, excessive exercise, eating disorder symptomatology, internalization of the beauty ideal, weight status, and perceived online social support. Participants’ data were used as predictors in a base linear regression model. Results: The final model had an acceptable fit (X210 =14.1; P=.17; root mean square error of approximation=0.03; comparative fit index=0.99; Tucker-Lewis index=0.99). Positive associations were found between usage of (1) nutrition websites and being female, higher levels of excessive exercise, and perceived online social support; (2) weight loss websites and excessive exercise, internalization, being female, eating disorder symptomatology, and being overweight or obese; and (3) fitness websites and levels of excessive exercise, internalization, and frequency of internet use. Conclusions: The results highlighted the importance of individual differences in the usage of health-related websites