Relational quality and media use in interpersonal relationships

Author final draft doi:10.1177/1461444807080339This study examined the relationship between relational quality and media use in interpersonal relationships. In addition, the impacts of other potentially important variables such as sex and relationship type of participants and their partners were explored. College student participants focused on interaction experiences with an acquaintance, friend, romantic partner, or family member. Questions addressed the sex of relational partners, how much of participants’ total communication with relational partners is conducted in each of three media (i.e., face-to-face, phone, and internet), and the quality of relationships. Results indicated that participant sex and partner sex did not affect reported media use, whereas relationship type had significant effects on the extent to which face-to-face and telephone communication were used. Specifically, among the college students studied, face-to-face communication was used least with family members and the telephone was used most with family members. Relationships with acquaintances had the lowest relational quality and romantic relationships, while closer, were less satisfying than either family or friendship relationships. Same-sex relationships were perceived as more satisfying than cross-sex relationships. Finally, media use did not predict relational closeness or satisfaction. Results are discussed in light of previous research on mediated interpersonal communication and conceptualizations of the role of communication technology in one’s social life are highlighted

A multinational study on online privacy: Global concerns and local responses

10.1177/1461444808101618New Media and Society113395-41

Sex Differences in Youth-Reported Depressive Symptomatology and Unwanted Internet Sexual Solicitation

BACKGROUND: As the number of youths using the Internet regularly increase, so too does the number of youths potentially vulnerable to negative experiences online. Clinicians, policy makers, and parents need to better understand the Internet and factors related to positive and negative experiences online. OBJECTIVE: Primarily to investigate the association between youth-reported depressive symptomatology and unwanted Internet sexual solicitation and secondarily to identify sex differences in related characteristics of affected youth. METHODS: Data from the Youth Internet Safety Survey were analyzed to investigate the association between reported depressive symptomatology and unwanted Internet sexual solicitation. The Youth Internet Safety Survey was a nationally-representative, cross-sectional telephone survey. Youth participants (N = 1501) were English speakers between the ages of 10 and 17 years who had accessed the Internet at least 6 times in the previous 6 months and had resided in the household for at least 2 weeks in the previous year. Eighty-two percent of contacted households agreed to participate. Each participant was asked to indicate whether any of the 9 symptoms of major depression defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) had been present within the previous month. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of reporting an unwanted sexual solicitation online for youths with mild or major depressive symptomatology versus no symptomatology. A parsimonious, multivariate model of significant youth characteristics was identified separately for males and females. RESULTS: Youths who report major depressive-like symptoms were 3.5 times more likely (odds ratio, 3.54; 95% confidence interval, 2.19-5.71) to also report an unwanted sexual solicitation online compared to youths with mild/no symptomatology. After adjusting for significant Internet and psychosocial characteristics, male Internet users who report major depressive-like symptomatology were 2.5 times more likely to also indicate an unwanted Internet solicitation (adjusted odds ratio, 2.72; 95% CI, 1.15-6.40); significant differences were not observed among otherwise-similar females. Further, among youths reporting an Internet solicitation (N = 283), youths with major depressive-like symptomatology were twice as likely to report feeling emotionally distressed by the incident compared to youths with mild/no symptomatology (odds ratio, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.03-5.02). CONCLUSIONS: While the majority of youths report positive experiences online, some youths may be more vulnerable to negative experiences. Cross-sectional results indicate that the report of depressive symptomatology is significantly related to the concurrent report of an unwanted Internet sexual solicitation, especially for young males. Future research should focus on parsing out the temporality of events and identifying additional populations of vulnerable youths online