A study of the relationship between parental mediation and adolescents’ digital skills, online risks and online opportunities

[EN]In recent years, discussions have sparked about the risks and opportunities that digital technologies may have for adolescents. Some researchers argue that the best way to increase online opportunities and avoid online risks is to increase adolescents' digital skills. For this reason, the first goal of this study was to examine how adolescents' digital skills are related to their online opportunities and online risks behaviours. A second goal was to examine the influence of two ways of parental mediation (active and restrictive) on the level of teenagers’ digital skills, and subsequently their online opportunities and online risks. Finally, we intended to establish the validity and the structure of the Digital Literacy Scale. Using data from a cross-sectional survey of 1.446 Spanish secondary school pupils, we found that more digitally skilled adolescents take more opportunities, and experience more risks. Digital literacy mediates the relationship between restrictive (but not of active) parental mediation and online risks and opportunities. Furthermore, the Digital Literacy Scale was shown to be valid in terms of construct validity. The findings suggest that digital literacy remains essential as it lets teenagers take more opportunities, and that parents should opt for other ways of mediation rather than restrictive mediation

Macho boys and sexy babes on TV : How watching different types of television content is related to Dutch adolescents’ hypergender orientations

Media effect theories and social cognitive theories of gender development posit that young people use the media to learn how to behave according to their gender. This study aimed to investigate reciprocal relationships between adolescents’ television diets and their endorsement of hypergender orientations (i.e., hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity). Based on data from a short-term longitudinal survey among 1,007 Dutch adolescents (13-17 years old), this study showed that different television genres were related to hypergender orientations in different ways. The most notable finding was the relevance of reality TV docu-soaps for both adolescent girls’ and boys’ hypergender orientations. In addition, more frequent exposure to romantic comedy movies predicted an increased endorsement of hyperfeminine gender roles among girls, whereas more frequent exposure to situational comedies was associated with lower levels of girls’ hyperfemininity. These findings could be used in media literacy interventions targeting the influence of specific types of television exposure on adolescents’ stereotypical gender role notions

#(Me)too much? The role of sexualizing online media in adolescents’ resistance towards the metoo-movement and acceptance of rape myths

Introduction The current study addresses how sexualizing online media practices, i.e., exposure to sexually explicit internet material and receiving negative appearance feedback on social media, relate to the acceptance of sexist attitudes among adolescents. Specifically, it extends previous research on the acceptance of rape myths by exploring a construct related to these beliefs, i.e., resistance towards the metoo-movement. Methods The study is based on a cross-sectional paper-and-pencil survey among 568 Flemish adolescents (15–18 years old, Mage = 16.4, SD = .98, 58.3% girls) that measured adolescents’ sexualizing online media use, sexist attitudes and objectification processes. Results The results showed that exposure to sexually explicit internet material, but not receiving negative appearance feedback on social media, was related to more resistance towards the metoo-movement and the acceptance of rape myths through notions of women as sex objects. Self-objectification did not function as a valid mediator in the examined relations. Gender and self-esteem did not moderate the proposed relations. Conclusions The findings underline the role of media use in how adolescents develop sexist beliefs and, more precisely, beliefs about contemporary actions to combat sexism, i.e., the metoo-movement. The present study showed that sexual objectification fueled by sexually explicit internet material may result in less positive attitudes and, thus, more resistance towards this movement