Rachel L. Neo

Problematic Instant Messaging Use

This study is an empirical investigation of problematic instant messaging (IM) use among university students in Singapore. It adapts Caplans (2005) theoretical framework of problematic Internet use (PIU) to the context of problematic IM use by linking pre-existing human dispositions to cognitive-behavioral symptoms and negative outcomes of improper IM use. Four new factors—oral communication apprehension, polychronicity, perceived inconvenience of using offline communication means, and trait procrastination—were tested as predictors of problematic IM use. The results provided strong support for Caplans theoretical framework of PIU and indicated that oral communication apprehension and perceived inconvenience of using offline means were significant predictors of problematic IM use, whereas polychronicity and trait procrastination were not. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The Roles of Value Predispositions, Communication, and Third-Person Perception, on Public Support for Censorship of Films With Homosexual Content

This study aims to examine the roles of value predispositions, communication, and third person perception on public support for censorship of films with homosexual content in Singapore. Findings from a nationally representative telephone survey of adults showed that the majority of Singaporeans supported stricter censorship of films with homosexual characters. Conformity to norms, intrinsic religiosity, and Asian orientation were positively associated with public support for censorship. Media exposure and perceived negative media effects on self were negatively associated with public support for censorship. Our results supported the perceptual component but not the behavioral component of the third person effect.

Examining Education and Newsroom Work Experience as Predictors of Communication Students' Perceptions of Journalism Ethics.

This study examines education and work experience in newsrooms as predictors of ethical perceptions among communication undergraduates at a large Singaporean university (N = 826). Results indicate that education is associated with ethical ideologies, perceived importance of journalism ethics codes, justifiability of using contentious news gathering methods, and concern towards journalistic plagiarism and fabrication. However, in this context, education is not a significant predictor of agreement with ethical principles or support for sanctions against journalistic plagiarism and fabrication. Ethical ideologies (idealism and relativism) are associated with ethical principles and the degree to which using contentious news gathering methods is justifiable. Work experience in newsrooms is associated with perceived justifiability of using contentious news-gathering methods but not with ethical ideologies. The pattern of results was not entirely as predicted and may be a function of the way journalism is practiced and perceived in Singapore.

Rights Versus Morality: Online Debate About Decriminalization of Gay Sex in Singapore

This article presents a quantitative content analysis of 10,473 comments from two opposing online petitions related to the legal status of a section of the penal code in Singapore used to ban sex between men. Results indicate numerous significant differences in how the two sides discussed the law and its significance. In particular, they used different types of arguments to support their views and expressed different kinds of concerns over the potential impact of changing or maintaining the law. The patterns of language use seem to reflect distinctly different approaches to the debate and suggest the difficulty of finding common ground amid this contentious social issue, but they also reveal similarities to how Western cultures have framed the debate.