Koen Ponnet

Advancing advanced mind-reading tests: empathic accuracy in adults with a pervasive developmental disorder

Research using advanced but static mind-reading tests with high-functioning adults with a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) provided evidence for subtle social cognitive deficits. In the present study, adults with PDD were unimpaired on such tasks, relative to individually matched normal controls. Significant differences between the two groups were, however, found on a more naturalistic empathic accuracy task developed for this study. Participants viewed two videotaped interactions that both depicted a male and female stranger having an initial conversation and were asked to infer the unexpressed thoughts and feelings of the four targets. Subjects with PDD performed significantly worse on the second video. These findings suggest that the mind-reading deficit of a subgroup of able adults with PDD may only be apparent when a sufficiently complex naturalistic assessment method is being used.

Advanced Mind-Reading in Adults with Asperger Syndrome

This study investigated the mind-reading abilities of 19 adults with Asperger syndrome and 19 typically developing adults. Two static mind-reading tests and a more naturalistic empathic accuracy task were used. In the empathic accuracy task, participants attempted to infer the thoughts and feelings of target persons, while viewing a videotape of the target persons in a naturally occurring conversation with another person. The results are consistent with earlier findings. The empathic accuracy task indicated significant between-group differences, whereas no such differences were found on the static mind-reading tasks. The most innovative finding of the present study is that the inference ability of adults with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and controls depends on the focus of the target’s thoughts and feelings, and that the empathic accuracy of adults with Asperger syndrome and control adults might be different in terms of quantity and quality.

Cyber Dating Abuse Victimization Among Secondary School Students From a Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory Perspective

Controlling one’s romantic partner through digital media is a form of cyber dating abuse. To design effective educational campaigns, a deeper understanding of how some young people become victim of this type of abuse within their romantic relationships is warranted. This study is the first to adopt a lifestyle-routine activities theory perspective toward online romantic partner monitoring, by looking at whether secondary school students’ risky digital lifestyle and their digital media use are linked to a higher chance of being controlled by a romantic partner, taking into account gender, age, and the length of the romantic relationship. The data of 466 secondary school students (71.0% girls, n = 331) between 16 and 22 years old (M = 17.99 years; SD = 0.92) who were in a romantic relationship are analyzed. Linear regression analysis suggests that engagement in online risk behavior, the length of the romantic relationship, engagement in sexting with the romantic partner, and the amount of social networking site use were significantly linked to victimization of digital controlling behavior. The results are important to practitioners, as they indicate that messages about safe Internet use should be incorporated in prevention and educational campaigns with regard to cyber dating abuse. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Young Adolescents and Advertising on Social Network Games: A Structural Equation Model of Perceived Parental Media Mediation, Advertising Literacy, and Behavioral Intention

This study tested a model in which perceived parental media mediation in social network games (SNGs) was related to adolescents conceptual and attitudinal advertising literacies, both of which were in turn related to purchase request intention. The 780 participants, aged between 10 and 14 years, watched a video clip of SNG Habbo that included a commercial message and then completed a questionnaire. Perceived autonomy-supportive restrictive media mediation was found to be positively associated with understanding selling intention. Perceived autonomy-supportive active media mediation was positively related to understanding persuasive intention. Understanding persuasive intention was positively related to purchase request intention.

Sexting : adolescents’ perceptions of the applications used for, motives for, and consequences of sexting

ABSTRACT This study explores adolescents’ perceptions of applications used for sexting, the motives for engaging in sexting, and the consequences they relate to sexting behavior. We conducted 11 same-sex focus groups among 57 adolescents (66.67% females; nu2009=u200938) between 15 and 18 years old in Flanders, Belgium. The analysis revealed that sexting mostly occurs through smartphone applications, such as Snapchat, which are perceived to be a more intimate form of communication than other digital applications, such as social networking sites. Both female and male respondents observed that girls might sometimes feel pressured to engage in sexting. They did so mostly out of fear that otherwise they would lose their boyfriends. Female and male respondents mentioned three main ways in which sexting photographs could be abused: (1) they could be used to coerce or to blackmail the victim, (2) they could be distributed out of revenge after the breakup of a romantic relationship, or (3) they could be forwarded or shown to peers in order to boast about having received the digital photograph. Anecdotes, which illustrate our findings, are included in the results. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.

VIDANN: A video annotation system

VIDANN is a computer program that allows participants to watch a video on a standard TV and to write their annotations (thought/feeling entries) on paper attached to a writing tablet. The system is designed as a Microsoft ActiveXmodule. It can be further adapted by the individual researcherthrough the use of a VBScript. All data, including the participant’s handwriting, are stored in an XML database. An accompanying Wizard has been designed that enables researchers to generate VBScripts for standard configurations.

A qualitative study into parental mediation of adolescents' internet use

The vast majority of studies on parental mediation are quantitative by nature, which leads to a lack of in-depth understanding of how parents define and perform their role as socializing agents in this area. The present study offers new insights into how parental mediation is implemented on a daily basis with regard to adolescents internet use. Therefore, six focus group interviews with parents of children aged 13 to 17 were performed (in total, 34 participants). Concretely, the study investigated (i) how parents perceive their adolescents internet use, (ii) how parents define their own role as socializing agents, and (iii) how parents perform internet mediation on a daily basis. The results show that parental mediation is best conceived as a dynamic process that stems from the daily interactions between parents and their adolescent children, rather than as a preconceived set of rules and strategies that are implemented. Open communication and making a connection with the adolescent in terms of his or her internet use are parents preferred strategies for performing parental mediation. The results have implications in terms of parental mediation research as well as in terms of the support directed at parents of adolescent children. Parents perceived role regarding internet parenting defines what practices are applied.Parents mediation practices are dynamic and alter in response to the childs internet use.Rule-setting and limiting the internet use are perceived as negative mediation practices.Parents prefer open communication and connecting with their child as mediation strategies.

The associations between substance use, sexual behaviors, bullying, deviant behaviors, health, and cyber dating abuse perpetration

Dating violence is an important public health concern and is considered to be a form of school violence. While digital technologies have enabled perpetrators of dating violence to target their victims online (cyber dating abuse), little is known about how this form of perpetration relates to specific adolescent risk behaviors. This brief research report focuses on the associations between substance use, sexual behaviors, deviant behaviors, self-reported health, and cyber dating abuse perpetration. Participants included 705 ethnically diverse adolescents (n = 408; 57.9% female) in Southeast Texas. Having had sexual intercourse or using alcohol or drugs before having sex was significantly linked with cyber dating abuse perpetration, as was poor physical health, and substance use. Consistent with limited research, we found a link between cyber dating abuse and engagement in bullying behaviors. The discussion section includes suggestions for school nurse practice and further research.

Decisional Balance Inventory (DBI) Adolescent Form for Smoking: Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version

BackgroundOne effective model for studying cigarette smoking cessation is the transtheoretical model (TTM). In order to assess to what degree interventions can make variations in individuals’ behavior, several questionnaires have been developed based on the TTM. This study aims to describe the development of the Persian version of the Decisional Balance Inventory (DBI) for smoking cessation in Iran and to evaluate its psychometric properties.Design and methodsThe forward-backward technique was used to translate the DBI from English into Persian. After linguistic validation and a pilot test among 30 male smoking young adults, a cross-sectional study was performed, and psychometric properties of the Persian version of the DBI were assessed. Using a convenience sampling method, 120 male smokers between 16 and 24xa0years of age were recruited from three factories in Nowshahr, Iran. In order to assess the reliability of the DBI, internal consistency and test–retest methods were performed. Additionally, face and content validity were assessed, and the construct validity of the DBI was calculated by performing both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS.ResultsThe mean age of the sample (nxa0=xa0120) was 20.19 (SDxa0=xa02.13) years. The mean scores for the content validity index (CVI) and the content validity ratio (CVR) were .94 and .89, respectively. The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) showed a three-factor solution for the DBI that accounted for 55.4% of observed variance. The results achieved from the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) displayed that the data fit the model: the relative chi-square (×2/df)xa0=xa01.733 (pxa0<xa0.001) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA)xa0=xa0.07 (90% CIxa0=xa0.05–.105). All comparative indices of the model including GFI, AGFI, CFI, NNFI, and NFI were more than .80 (.87, .83, .91, .89, and .81, respectively). The Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .78 to .83, indicating an acceptable reliability. Furthermore, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) ranged from .72 to .89, confirming a satisfactory result.ConclusionsThe results from the present study indicate that the Persian version of the DBI has good psychometric properties and is suitable to measure smoking behaviors among Iranian adolescent and young adult smokers. Consequently, the instrument could be used in planning cigarette smoking cessation interventions among Iranian adolescents and young adults.

Adolescent Sexting Research: The Challenges Ahead

Sexting is a relatively commonplace behavior among adolescents. A study in southeast Texas found that 27.6% (259 of 964) of teenagers have sent self-made sexually explicit photographs of themselves.1 For some teenagers, sexting may be a normal part of their sexual development and experimentation.2 However, it remains an important public health issue because the behavior comes with a risk for reputational damage and has been associated with other risk-taking behaviors such as substance use, risky sexual behaviors, and cyberbullying.1,3 The field research has substantially grown during the past years. A search in the Web of Science index for the keyword “sexting” shows that in 2013, 74 articles were published on the topic. By October 2017, this body of research grew to 273 publications. Despite the boom of research activity surrounding sexting, critical aspects of the behavior have remained unexplored. To deepen our understanding of adolescents’ sexting behavior and its associated risks and to inspire education and awareness-raising initiatives, sexting research needs to focus on addressing the limitations of prior research. These issues, as well as paths for further research, are highlighted in this Viewpoint.