Beyond the Classroom Walls: The Case of Israeli Youths’ Sense of Group Climate in Online and Offline Educational Environments

The study examined Israeli youths’ sense of group climate in online and offline educational settings, i.e., in Instant Messaging (IM) groups organized by homeroom teachers for their respective students and in the physical classroom environment. Participants included 550 students (152 boys, 398 girls), of ages 10–18, who completed an online survey. The findings reveal that the students perceived the classroom climate to be more positive than that of the IM group in which the homeroom teacher is present. Furthermore, the more positive the perceived face-to-face (FtF) classroom climate was, the more positive the perceived IM group climate. In addition, when both class and IM group climates were perceived to be highly positive, a sense of non-violence among the participants was found to be the highest. These findings shed light on the unique phenomena of homeroom teachers who participate with their students in IM groups. Based on the findings, implications for educators and school counsellors are discussed

Constantly connected – The effects of smart-devices on mental health

A number of studies have demonstrated the mental health implications of excessive Internet-browsing, gaming, texting, emailing, social networking, and phone calling. However, no study to date has investigated the impact of being able to conduct all of these activities on one device. A smart-device (i.e., smart-phone or tablet) allows these activities to be conducted anytime and anywhere, with unknown mental health repercussions. This study investigated the association between smart-device use, smart-device involvement and mental health. Two-hundred and seventy-four participants completed an online survey comprising demographic questions, questions concerning smart-device use, the Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Test and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales. Higher smart-device involvement was significantly associated with higher levels of depression and stress but not anxiety. However, smart-device use was not significantly associated with depression, anxiety or stress. These findings suggest that it is the nature of the relationship a person has with their smart-device that is predictive of depression and stress, rather than the extent of use

Adolescents' involvement in cyber bullying and perceptions of school: the importance of perceived peer acceptance for female adolescents

Young people are spending increasing amounts of time using digital technology and, as such, are at great risk of being involved in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim. Despite cyber bullying typically occurring outside the school environment, the impact of being involved in cyber bullying is likely to spill over to school. Fully 285 11- to 15-year-olds (125 male and 160 female, M age = 12.19 years, SD = 1.03) completed measures of cyber bullying involvement, self-esteem, trust, perceived peer acceptance, and perceptions of the value of learning and the importance of school. For young women, involvement in cyber bullying as a victim, bully, or bully/victim negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school, and perceived peer acceptance mediated this relationship. The results indicated that involvement in cyber bullying negatively predicted perceived peer acceptance which, in turn, positively predicted perceptions of learning and school. For young men, fulfilling the bully/victim role negatively predicted perceptions of learning and school. Consequently, for young women in particular, involvement in cyber bullying spills over to impact perceptions of learning. The findings of the current study highlight how stressors external to the school environment can adversely impact young women's perceptions of school and also have implications for the development of interventions designed to ameliorate the effects of cyber bullying

Understanding child and adolescent cyberbullying

Global development of digital technologies has provided considerable connectivity benefits. However, connectivity of this scale has presented a seemingly unmanageable number of potential risks to psychological harm especially experienced by children and adolescents; one such risk is cyberbullying. This chapter will initially address the origins of bullying, leading into an overview of cyberbullying. A review of the unique characteristics of online communication will shed light on the ongoing debate concerning cyberbullying being potentially more than an extension of traditional bullying. Current research findings encompassing prevalence, types of behavior, consequences, and the roles within cyberbullying activity will be discussed to guide future interventions to reduce the risk of vulnerability for children and adolescents. In parallel, this chapter also considers the relative and perhaps distorted risk perception that young people have of becoming a cybervictim. Finally, this chapter acknowledges current understanding to support future digital and social evolvement.N/

Cyberbullying in a multicultural society: The case of Israel

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in cyberbullying (bystanders, victims, bullies) between Jewish and Arab adolescents in Israel. The study included 901 junior high and high school students (501 Jewish-Israelis and 400 Arab-Israelis). Precipitating Youths completed a self-report questionnaire on cyberbullying that included two-sections: personal data and cyberbullying. The questionnaire was distributed according to age groups via Facebook. Findings revealed that Jewish adolescents reported being cybervictims and cyberbystanders more than Arab adolescents, yet contrary to expectation, Arab adolescents reported being cyberbullies more than Jewish adolescents. Among Jewish adolescents, girls and boys were equally likely to be bullies and there were no significant gender differences while among Arab adolescents, girls reported higher bullying than boys. Moreover, the cultural difference was significant among girls, revealing that Jewish girls were higher than Arab girls on bystanding and victimization, while Arab girls were higher than Jewish girls on bullying in cyberspace. The cultural difference was not significant among boys. The findings will be discussed in a cultural context in a multicultural society

The benign online disinhibition effect: Could situational factors induce self-disclosure and prosocial behaviors?

The current study, which focuses on the benign effects of disinhibition, was designed as a continuation of an earlier study conducted on the toxic effects of online disinhibition (Lapidot-Lefler & Barak, 2012). Using a factorial design, the study examined the effects of three online situational factors—anonymity, invisibility, and lack of eye contact—on inducing self-disclosure and prosocial behaviors as expressions of benign online disinhibition. Random pairs of adult strangers (n = 144) discussed a dilemma and were required to reach a joint solution using online chat. Self-disclosure and prosocial behavior effects were measured using participants’ self-reports, expert judges’ ratings of chat transcripts, and textual analyses of the conversations. Results suggested that the interaction between anonymity and invisibility had a significant effect on the revealing of emotions. Lack of eye contact, the interaction between anonymity and invisibility and the interaction between lack of eye contact and invisibility had a significant effect on the inducement of first-person words. The interaction between anonymity, invisibility and lack of eye contact had significant effects on the total self-disclosure score, yet no significant effects were found for prosocial behaviors. A discussion of the findings with regard to previous research on toxic online disinhibition suggests that different factors play a role in the inducement of benign vs. toxic online disinhibition effects. More research is required to substantiate current findings and determine the nature of the contribution of each situational factor