Internet Communication and Its Relation to Well-Being: Identifying Some Underlying Mechanisms

Abstract

The aim of this study was to improve our insight into the relation between Internet communication and well-being. Drawing on a survey of 816 adolescents, we initially found that Internet communication was negatively related to well-being. However, when adolescents’ (a) closeness to friends and (b) tendency to talk with strangers online were included in our structural equation model, an opposite pattern of results emerged. First, the direct negative relation between Internet communication and well-being disappeared. Second, via the mediator closeness to friends, Internet communication showed a positive influence on well-being. Third, not Internet communication per se, but Internet communication with strangers accounted for a negative effect on well-being. Fourth, the effects of both Internet communication and Internet communication with strangers on well-being were most adverse for lonely adolescents.     

Adolescents' Exposure to Sexually Explicit Internet Material and Sexual Preoccupancy: A Three-Wave Panel Study

The main aim of this study was to investigate whether adolescents' use of sexually explicit Internet material (SEIM) increased their sexual preoccupancy (i.e., a strong cognitive engagement in sexual issues). Further, we wanted to know (a) whether subjective sexual arousal mediated a potential influence of exposure to SEIM on sexual preoccupancy and (b) whether this process differed between male and female adolescents. Over the course of one year, we surveyed 962 Dutch adolescents aged 13–20 years three times. Structural equation modeling showed that exposure to SEIM stimulated sexual preoccupancy. This influence was fully mediated by subjective sexual arousal from SEIM. The effect of exposure to SEIM on subjective sexual arousal did not differ between male and female adolescents. The findings suggest that a sexualized media environment may affect adolescents' sexual development beyond traditionally studied variables, such as sexual attitudes and sexual behavior.     

Perceptions of health care social workers in Ontario: challenges and facilitators to reflective practice

Background: Reflective practice in health care social work ensures that social workers provide effective and efficient services to clients as well as maintaining their mental and physical health. In this study, we aim to determine how health care social workers engage in and describe reflective practice and challenges related to their reflective practice in their work in the health care system.

Methods: We used the Reflective Dialogue Rating Scale (RDRS) developed by Marion Bogo et al. to structure qualitative face-to-face interviews with 23 health care social workers employed in a hospital in a large urban area in Ontario, Canada.

Results: Findings illustrated that all participants regularly engaged in reflective practice in order to carry out everyday social work activities, promote ethical practice, and to enhance the provision of services to their clients. The social worker participants consistently agreed that as a profession they faced challenges maintaining their knowledge of current research due to few opportunities for professional development, workload competing with educational opportunities, and a work climate that is not conducive to gaining professional development, thereby challenging reflective practice. Supportive working environments include: peer supervision, safe and private spaces to talk to colleagues, a supportive supervisor, and an overall positive organizational culture.

Discussion and conclusion: Reflective practice is a key component in health care social work. All 23 social workers stated that they used reflective techniques (such as peer supervision and debriefing) to deal with their own reactions and operated in a purposeful and intentional manner to form therapeutic relationships with clients. As such, participants stated that lifelong learning was paramount in providing quality care to clients.     

Psychometric Evaluation of the Parent Anger Scale

This study assessed the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Parent Anger Scale in a sample of 326 parents of children ages 2–18 years. Exploratory factor analysis identified a two-factor solution: parent anger experience and parent anger expression. Subscales based on the items of each factor demonstrated excellent internal consistency and concurrent validity with measures of other negative affect and parent discipline. The Parent Anger Scale subscales also evidenced incremental validity, predicting discipline behaviors uniquely above that predicted by parents’ general anger and general anxiety. Specifically, analyses indicated that the Parent Anger Scale experience and expression scores were each unique predictors of inconsistent and punitive parental discipline after controlling for the influences of general anger and anxiety. However, only the Parent Anger Scale expression score had a significant incremental effect in negatively predicting positive parenting above the effects of parents’ general anger and anxiety. Results suggest that the Parent Anger Scale is a valid and useful measure for assessing anger specific to the parent-child context. However, additional research exploring the factor analytic structure and predictive value of the Parent Anger Scale in a clinical sample is needed.     

When the victim is one among others: Empathy,awareness of others and motivational ambivalence

Feeling empathy for one person in need while being aware of others may increase the motivational ambivalence between the motive of helping the one and the motive of helping the others, and such motivational ambivalence may reduce the helping directed to the person in need. To test these hypotheses we carried out three studies in which participants were faced with a real case of a child in need. In Study 1, empathy, awareness of others and motivational ambivalence were allowed to occur naturally and subsequently measured. In Study 2, empathy and awareness of others were experimentally manipulated, and motivational ambivalence measured. In Study 3, we tested how empathy and motivational ambivalence influenced an actual helping decision. Taken together, the results supported our two hypotheses. The present research offers insight into processes not previously considered in the research, but which may influence decisions about assistance to others in need.     

Communication Using Camera Phones Among Young Men and Women: Who Sends What to Whom?

This study examined whether the gender of the sender and recipient would influence camera phone usage. 180 college and university students from the Midlands and North of England provided information on communication with friends and family, and on personal importance of image uses. A sub-sample of 130 provided further data on likelihood of sending different kinds of image and the content of recent images sent and received. Many gender similarities were found, together with evidence of the use of images to support heterosexual relationships. However, the results showed greater use of images of significant individuals by the women than among their male counterparts, among all-female dyads and to communicate with female recipients. Overall the results suggest that women use images more than men for relationship maintenance.