Patti M. Valkenburg

Preadolescents' and adolescents' online communication and their closeness to friends

The 1st goal of this study was to investigate how online communication is related to the closeness of existing friendships. Drawing from a sample of 794 preadolescents and adolescents, the authors found that online communication was positively related to the closeness of friendships. However, this effect held only for respondents who primarily communicated online with existing friends and not for those who mainly talked with strangers. The 2nd goal was to refine 2 opposing hypotheses, the rich-get-richer and the social compensation hypotheses. Consistent with the rich-get-richer hypothesis, socially anxious respondents communicated online less often than did nonsocially anxious respondents. However, socially anxious respondents perceived the Internet as more valuable for intimate self-disclosure than did nonsocially anxious respondents, and this perception in turn led to more online communication. This result is consistent with the social compensation hypothesis. Online communication and closeness to friends increased with age. There was a curvilinear relationship between age and perceived value of the Internet for intimate self-disclosure, such that 15-year-olds were at the epitome of online self-disclosure. Girls were closer to friends and more socially anxious than were boys.

Development and validation of a game addiction scale for adolescents

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure computer and videogame addiction. Inspired by earlier theories and research on game addiction, we created 21 items to measure seven underlying criteria (i.e., salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict, and problems). The dimensional structure of the scale was investigated in two independent samples of adolescent gamers (N = 352 and N = 369). In both samples, a second-order factor model described our data best. The 21-item scale, as well as a shortened 7-item version, showed high reliabilities. Furthermore, both versions showed good concurrent validity across samples, as indicated by the consistent correlations with usage, loneliness, life satisfaction, social competence, and aggression.

Developing a scale to assess three styles of television mediation: “Instructive mediation,” “restrictive mediation,” and “social coviewing”

Telephone interviews from a random sample of Dutch parents (N = 123 for the pilot study, N = 519 for the main study), provided an opportunity to explore television mediation activities in which parents could engage. From principal components analysis, three reliable styles of television mediation emerged: restrictive mediation, instructive mediation, and social coviewing. In addition to a number of demographic variables, parental concerns about the negative effects of television were significant predictors of style of television mediation.

Adolescents’ identity experiments on the internet:

The aim of this article is to investigate how often adolescents engage in internet-based identity experiments, with what motives they engage in such experiments and which self-presentational strategies they use while experimenting with their identity. Six hundred nine to 18-year-olds completed a questionnaire in their classroom. Of the adolescents who used the internet for chat or Instant Messaging, 50 percent indicated that they had engaged in internet-based identity experiments. The most important motive for such experiments was self-exploration (to investigate how others react), followed by social compensation (to overcome shyness) and social facilitation (to facilitate relationship formation). Age, gender and introversion were significant predictors of the frequency with which adolescents engaged in internet-based identity experiments, their motives for such experiments, and their self-presentational strategies.

Online Communication and Adolescent Well‐Being: Testing the Stimulation Versus the Displacement Hypothesis

The aim of this study was to contrast the validity of two opposing explanatory hypotheses about the effect of online communication on adolescents’ well-being. The displacement hypothesis predicts that online communication reduces adolescents’ well-being because it displaces time spent with existing friends, thereby reducing the quality of these friendships. In contrast, the stimulation hypothesis states that online communication stimulates well-being via its positive effect on time spent with existing friends and the quality of these friendships. We conducted an online survey among 1,210 Dutch teenagers between 10 and 17 years of age. Using mediation analyses, we found support for the stimulation hypothesis but not for the displacement hypothesis. We also found a moderating effect of type of online communication on adolescents’ well-being: Instant messaging, which was mostly used to communicate with existing friends, positively predicted well-being via the mediating variables (a) time spent with existing friends and (b) the quality of these friendships. Chat in a public chatroom, which was relatively often used to talk with strangers, had no effect on adolescents’ well-being via the mediating variables.

Developing a model of adolescent friendship formation on the internet.

Previous research has been largely silent about what precisely influences online friendship formation and has ignored motives for online communication as potential explanations. Drawing on a sample of 493 adolescents, this study tested a path model of adolescent friendship formation including as predictors introversion/extraversion, online self-disclosure, motive for social compensation, and frequency of online communication. Our path analysis showed that extraverted adolescents self-disclosed and communicated online more frequently, which, in turn, facilitated the formation of online friendships. Introverted adolescents, by contrast, were more strongly motivated to communicate online to compensate for lacking social skills. This increased their chances of making friends online. Among introverted adolescents, a stronger motive for social compensation also led to more frequent online communication and online self-disclosure, resulting in more online friendships. The model suggests that the antecedents of online friendship formation are more complex than previously assumed and that motives for online communication should be studied more closely.

The development of a child into a consumer.

This paper presents a descriptive model of the development of childrens consumer behavior from infancy to 12 years of age. Although there is no single definition of consumer behavior in the literature, those that have been employed seem to entail at least four characteristics. A consumer is able to (1) feel wants and preferences, (2) search to fulfill them, (3) make a choice and a purchase, and (4) evaluate the product and its alternatives. The authors argue that the development of consumer behavior occurs in four phases, and that in each phase, one of the four characteristics of consumer behavior emerges. By drawing together a number of theories and ideas currently in the literature, the authors discuss each of the phases of consumer behavior and explain why particular characteristics of consumer behavior emerge at particular ages.

Adolescents’ Exposure to Sexually Explicit Material on the Internet

Drawing on a survey of 745 Dutch adolescents ages 13 to 18, the authors investigated (a) the occurrence and frequency of adolescents’ exposure to sexually explicit material on the Internet and (b) the correlates of this exposure. Seventy-one percent of the male adolescents and 40% of the female adolescents had been exposed to some kind of online sexually explicit material in the 6 months prior to the interview. Adolescents were more likely to be exposed to sexually explicit material online if they were male, were high sensation seekers, were less satisfied with their lives, were more sexually interested, used sexual content in other media more often, had a fast Internet connection, and had friends that were predominantly younger. Among male adolescents, a more advanced pubertal status was also associated with more frequent exposure to online sexually explicit material. Among female adolescents, greater sexual experience decreased exposure to online sexually explicit material.

The Unintended Effects of Television Advertising: A Parent-Child Survey

The aim of this parent-child survey is to investigate how television advertising is related to childrens purchase requests, materialism, disappointment, life dissatisfaction, and family conflict. In a first step, a conceptual model based on existing hypotheses was developed, and in a second step, this model was tested using a sample of 360 parent-child (8- to 12-year-olds) dyads. Using structural equation modeling, the findings show that advertising is positively and directly related to childrens purchase requests and materialism. It is also positively, though indirectly (mediated by advertising-induced purchase requests), related to family conflict, disappointment, and life dissatisfaction. Parent-child consumer communication and parental mediation of advertising are important moderators of the effects of advertising on childrens purchase requests and materialism.

Parental Mediation of Undesired Advertising Effects

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of various types of parental mediation of 3 potentially undesired effects of television advertising. In a survey among 360 parent–child dyads with children in the 8 to 12 years age range, we investigated how different styles of advertising mediation (active vs. restrictive) and family consumer communication (concept-oriented vs. socio-oriented) moderated the relations between the childrens advertising exposure and their materialism, purchase requests, and conflicts with their parents. Our results showed that active advertising mediation and concept-oriented consumer communication were most effective in reducing the effects of advertising.