Measuring the Time Teens Spend with Media: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

This article considers the challenges researchers face in attempting to measure the amount of time teenagers spend with media. After reviewing the methods and measures that have been used in research incorporating “time spent with media” as a critical variable, it concludes that there is a lack of information about the reliability and validity of these measures and highlights the challenges that face researchers in this domain. In particular, there has been little comparison of the different self-report measures commonly used to capture media time. Moreover, little effort has been made to explore differences in media time use measures across the variety of media available today. Finally, we argue that teens are a unique audience for media and that their media use patterns may be distinct. To address these and other issues, data from 2 exploratory studies are presented. Study 1, a self-administered questionnaire with 191 youth ages 12 to 19, examines the correlation of an ordinal-level Frequency measure with a continuous Minutes per Week measure and finds important differences within and across the media used by teens. Study 2, a survey of 86 youth ages 12 to 18 conducted in a focus-group format, examines the correlation of responses to a cued-recall measure (a TV grid) and a media time use log (a diary in 30-min time blocks). Respondents’ reports of time spent with television from the TV grid were significantly greater than those from the time-use log. The article concludes with suggestions for future research needed to better understand teenagers’ time with media in the new media environment.     

Rod Cocking's legacy: The development of psychological distancing

Thirty years of work on psychological distancing is discussed in this article. The psychological construct of psychological distance was applied to the development of children's developing representational abilities over 30 years ago [Sigel, I. E. (1970). The distancing hypothesis: A causal hypothesis for the acquisition of representational thought. In: M. R. Jones (Ed.), Miami symposium on the prediction of behavior, 1968: Effect of early experiences (pp. 99–118). Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press]. The construct has changed knowledge in three areas: (1) changes in the child's developmental status as a result of reflection on general properties of interactions with the world as well as maturation, (2) the effects of different modes of formal instruction in schooling on the development of children's thinking, and (3) the relationship of one's beliefs about how development occurs to behaviors with children that create “distancing experiences” for children. The distancing construct itself has been broadened further as the notion of psychological distance has been applied to areas as diverse as delay of gratification, divorce, video game play, and resolution of interpersonal conflicts [Cocking, R. R., & Renninger, K. A. (Eds.) (1993). The development and meaning of psychological distance. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum]. The distancing construct was evident in Rod Cocking's own program of psychological inquiry. However, much of his legacy to the field lies in his Educational Testing Service (ETS) work that extended the usefulness of this construct for other researchers working in a variety of domains of development and in his ability to see the implications of research from this perspective for the lives of children.     

The circumplex structure of affect: A Swedish version

The taxonomy of a circumplex model has been widely applied in the emotion domain and especially by researchers advocating a systematic arrangement of conscious emotional experience (see Fabrigar, Visser & Browne, 1997; Feldman Barett & Russell, 1999 for recent reviews). To rule out some of the lexical problems in the naming of affective states in the circumplex space, Larsen and Diener (1992) suggested a labeling system with forty-eight English adjectives representing eight affective states. The objective of the present study was to examine how well Swedish adjectives map onto a dimensional model of this kind, in doing so, to compose a Swedish measure for self-reported affect. The forty-eight Swedish adjectives translated from Larsen and Diener (1992) failed to capture a pure circumplex structure. However, when approximately two thirds of these adjectives were reanalyzed, a reasonable consistency with the circumplex model was reached. This suggested a composite Swedish measure for self-rated affect, with up to four adjectives representing each of the eight affective states in the circumplex space.     

Measuring depression for Swedish nonclinical adolescents: Factorial validity and equivalence of the Beck Depression Inventory across gender

Building upon earlier confirmatory factor analytic research that validated a 2nd-order 4-factor structure of the Beck Depression Inventory for Canadian and Swedish nonclinical adolescents, the purposes of the present study were twofold: (a) to test the factorial structure of the Swedish version of the instrument separately for males ( n = 559) and females ( n = 537), and (b) to test for its measurement and structural equivalence across gender. Except for three minor discrepancies involving correlated errors, the hypothesized model best described the data for both males and females. Nonetheless, the imposition of equality constraints across sex revealed differences bearing on the measurement of six items, and latent construct relations involving the Somatic Elements factor. Four gender differences in factorial structure replicated findings for Canadian adolescents. Results have important implications for researchers, clinicians, and others whose interests focus on nonclinical adolescent depression.     

Time trends in the adjustment of Swedish teenage girls: a 26-year comparison of 15-year-olds

The aim of this study was to investigate stability and change over 26 years in self-reported adjustment of Swedish teenage girls. Data were collected with the same questionnaire from two school-cohorts in a middle-sized Swedish community: 522 girls attending Grade 8 (approximately at age 15) in 1970, and 529 girls attending Grade 8 in 1996. The first cohort was part of the longitudinal research programme Individual Development and Adaptation (IDA). In most domains, adjustment problems were approximately as common in 1996 as in 1970, with two exceptions: more girls reported problems with self-esteem and antisocial problems in 1996. In the antisocial domain, a polarization process was indicated, with an increase also in the number of girls without adjustment problems. In the relational domains, especially peer relations, there was an increase in positive adjustment. The results are discussed in relation to earlier findings and to social changes during the period.     

The Boston Naming Test in Swedish: normative data

The purpose of the present study was to introduce a Swedish version of the Boston Naming Test and to offer normative data based on a sample of native Swedish-speaking healthy adults stratified concerning age, gender, and length of education. The subjects were assessed with other lexical tests and half of the group also performed tests of global cognitive function. A semantic analysis of the responses was performed and the typical Swedish naming of the pictures of BNT was investigated. The results showed that long education, high performance on tests of global cognitive ability (FSIQ), verbal fluency, and other lexical tests had a significant positive association to a good performance on BNT whereas age and gender had a minor influence. The response analysis showed that the more difficult an item was, the more variations in the response pattern. To conclude, the Boston Naming Test is appropriate for use in a Swedish-speaking context and an effective test for assessment of naming ability.     

Measuring working memory capacity in children using adaptive tasks: Example validation of an adaptive complex span

Working memory tasks designed for children usually present trials in order of ascending difficulty, with testing discontinued when the child fails a particular level. Unfortunately, this procedure comes with a number of issues, such as decreased engagement from high-ability children, vulnerability of the scores to temporary mind-wandering, and large between-subjects variations in number of trials, testing time, and proactive interference. To circumvent these problems, the goal of the present study was to demonstrate the feasibility of assessing working memory using an adaptive testing procedure. The principle of adaptive testing is to dynamically adjust the level of difficulty as the task progresses to match the participant's ability. We used this method to develop an adaptive complex span task (the ACCES) comprising verbal and visuo-spatial subtests. The task presents a fixed number of trials to all participants, allows for partial credit scoring, and can be used with children regardless of ability level. The ACCES demonstrated satisfying psychometric properties in a sample of 268 children aged 8–13 years, confirming the feasibility of using adaptive tasks to measure working memory capacity in children. A free-to-use implementation of the ACCES is provided.     

另一种普遍主义:范例的力量

本文描述了一种作者称为"3B"立场的普遍主义观点.这种立场能够既解释命题对环境的超越性,又不否认环境的多元性和对命题的建构性.作者没有采纳把形式和内容分开以便协调普遍主义和多元主义的作法,而是用"范例的力量"轴枢其间,得到一种以重新解释了的"共通感"概念为核心的实质性的普遍主义.它与其他普遍主义的区别在于,它承认后现代对基础主义的质疑;对现代哲学中无法落实的普遍主义原则,它的解决方案是诉诸人类对自我生命力的确证和提升的普遍的直觉,而不在乎他们是否拥有不同的文化环境和历史.     

Faking Fast and Slow: Within-Person Response Time Latencies for Measuring Faking in Personnel Testing

Purpose

Item response time (RT) latencies offer a potentially promising approach for measuring faking in personnel testing, but have been studied almost exclusively as either long or short RTs relative to group norms. As such, the ability to reliably assess faking RTs at the individual level remains a challenge. To address this issue, the present study set out to examine the usefulness of a within-person difference score index (DSI) method for measuring faking, in which “control question” (baseline) RTs were compared to “target question” RTs, within single test administrations.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Two hundred six participants were randomly selected to simulated faking or honest testing conditions, and were administered two types of integrity test items (overt and personality), whereby group classification (faking/honest) served as the main dependent variable.

Findings

Faking condition RTs were longer than honest condition RTs for both item types (overt: d = .43; personality: d = .47), and overt item RTs were slightly shorter than personality item RTs in both testing conditions (honest: d = .34; faking: d = .41). Finally, using a sample cut score, the DSI correctly classified an average of 26 % more cases of faking, and 53 % less false positives, compared to the traditional normative method.

Implications

The results suggest that the DSI can be an advantageous method for identifying faking in personnel testing scenarios.

Originality/Value

This is the one of the first studies to propose a practical method for identifying individual-level faking RTs within single test administrations.

     

Leisure Activity Profile Measuring Use of Leisure Time by Persons with Alcoholism

Use of leisure time by persons with alcoholism differs from that of non-alcoholics. Some leisure activities may even contribute to a pattern of heavy drinking. The Leisure Activity Profile (LAP) was designed to identify dysfunctional leisure activity patterns, specifically those activity patterns associated with high levels of alcohol consumption. The initial developmental work on the LAP is described in this article. The LAP includes a list of 38 activities, half of which were selected for their association with alcohol consumption. Respondents indicate the activities in which they participate, and the level of alcohol consumption with each activity. Respondents also indicate if they complete the activity alone or with close friends or relatives. The LAP should prove useful to occupational therapists who treat persons with alcoholism, both in identifying dysfunctional leisure activity patterns and in developing and measuring treatment approaches.     

An Applied Example of Pooled Time Series Analysis: Cardiovascular Reactivity to Stressors in Children With Autism

The advent of telemetric devices that sample data extensively over time has facilitated single subject or idiographic research to intensively study a single person over time. One of the challenges of idiographic research is combining single subject results to determine generalizability across subjects. This article demonstrates the first behavioral science application of pooled time series analysis, an extension of time series analysis that allows for the testing of between-person effects. The analysis used cardiovascular data gathered from 4 children with autism between the ages of 10 and 20 while exposed to 6 experimentally manipulated environmental stressors. A pooled time series analysis using the general transformation approach identified 1 general (a difficult learning task) and 3 specific stressors (exposure to a loud noise, unstructured time, and eating a preferred food) across the 4 participants. This application of pooled time series analysis demonstrates the challenges and potential for this method to address the issue of generalizability when using an idiographic research approach in the behavioral sciences.     

Shaun Gallagher: The Inordinance of Time

Continental Philosophy Review -     

Training the Elderly: The Example of Class Inclusion

The authors used an inclusive reasoning task to assess the cognitive reserve capacities of elderly people. The results showed that it is possible to optimize the inclusive reasoning of individuals who are over 60 years old, regardless of their level of education.     

The Sociomoral Reflection Measure: Applicability to Swedish children and adolescents

The Sociomoral Reflection Measure (SRM; Gibbs & Widaman, 1982) was developed as a group administerable instrument for measuring developmental stages of moral reasoning. The aim of this study was to examine its reliability and construct validity, employing a sample of 542 Swedish elementary and high school students (aged 8-17), from schools within metropolitan Stockholm. Interrater reliability varied between 0.83 and 0.92, and the internal consistency coefficient was 0.76. Factor analyses of the norms (on which the overall score is based) revealed one factor for the oldest age group (16-17 years), but two factors among the younger subjects (8-15 years), clearly separating the norms related to each of the two moral dilemmas. The Sociomoral Reflection Maturity Score was moderately, but significantly, related to both age and grade. The results suggests that, although used in a non-American context and with self-trained raters, the SRM seems highly applicable in Sweden, at least for research purposes.     

The Rod of Discipline: Masochism, Sadism, and the Judeo-Christian Religion

Within the Judeo-Christian tradition, the scenario where a person, often a child, is being beaten by a parent, an authority figure, or even God, is often found. This essay searches for an explanation for this phenomenon by combining Sigmund Freud's thoughts on the masochism of the Oedipus complex and Martin Bergmann's belief that Western religion was impacted by the sadism of the Laius and Jocasta Complexes. The paper argues that, within the section of the Judeo-Christian tradition that sanctions the physical abuse of children, sadism and masochism find the perfect marriage.     

The Strobophotograph: A Device for Measuring Pitch

(Pennington, L. A., &; Berg., I. A., Eds. An Introduction to Clinical Psychology. New York: Ronald Press, 1948. Pp. 595.) Reviewed by Jane Dorroch.     

Absolute Time: The Limit of Kant's Idealism

I examine here if Kant can explain our knowledge of duration by showing that time has metric structure. To do so, I spell out two possible solutions: time's metric could be intrinsic or extrinsic. I argue that Kant's resources are too weak to secure any intrinsic, transcendentally‐based temporal metrics; but he can supply an extrinsic metric, based in a metaphysical fact about matter. I conclude that Transcendental Idealism is incomplete: it cannot account for the durative aspects of experience—or it can do so only with help from a non‐trivial metaphysics of material substance.     

Myths as Instructions from Ancestors: The Example of Oedipus

The growing interest in dual-inheritance models of human evolution has focused attention on culture as a means by which ancestors transmitted acquired phenotypic characteristics to their descendants. The ability of cultural behaviors to be repeatedly transmitted from ancestors to descendants enables individuals to influence their descendant-leaving success over many more generations than are usually coclusive fitness. This essay proposes that traditional stories, or myths, can be seen as a way in which ancestors influence their descendant-leaving success by influencing the behavior of many generations of their descendants. The myth of Oedipus is used as an example of a traditional story aimed at promoting proper behavior and cooperation among kin. This interpretation of the Oedipus myth is contrasted with Freudian and structuralist interpretations.