Introduction: Social media has become an integrated part of daily life, with an estimated 3 billion social media users worldwide. Adolescents and young adults are the most active users of social media. Research on social media has grown rapidly, with the potential association of social media use and mental health and well-being becoming a polarized and much-studied subject. The current body of knowledge on this theme is complex and difficult-to-follow. The current paper presents a scoping (...) review of the published literature in the research field of social media use and its association with mental health and well-being among adolescents. Methods and analysis: First, relevant databases were searched for eligible studies with a vast range of relevant search terms for social media use and mental health and well-being over the past five years. Identified studies were screened thoroughly and included or excluded based on prior established criteria. Data from the included studies were extracted and summarized according to the previously published study protocol. Results: Among the 79 studies that met our inclusion criteria, the vast majority (94%) were quantitative, with a cross-sectional design (57%) being the most common study design. Several studies focused on different aspects of mental health, with depression (29%) being the most studied aspect. Almost half of the included studies focused on use of non-specified social network sites (43%). Of specified social media, Facebook (39%) was the most studied social network site. The most used approach to measuring social media use was frequency and duration (56%). Participants of both genders were included in most studies (92%) but seldom examined as an explanatory variable. 77% of the included studies had social media use as the independent variable. Conclusion: The findings from the current scoping review revealed that about ¾ of the included studies focused on social media and some aspect of pathology. Focus on the potential association between social media use and positive outcomes seems to be rarer in the current literature. Amongst the included studies, few separated between different forms of (inter)actions on social media, which are likely to be differentially associated with mental health and well-being outcomes. (shrink)

Purpose The high rate of internet penetration has led to the proliferation of social media use, even at the workplace, including academia. This research attempts to develop a topology and thereby determine the dominant use motive for faculty’s use of SM. Design/methodology/approach In this two-part study, a two-stage research design has been adopted for topology development based on the application of Uses and Gratifications Theory. In the second part, the Technology Acceptance Model is applied to discern the dominant motive (...) for SM use in academia. Findings The work is able to develop a seven-item topology, conforming to the basic three use motives, namely, hedonic, utilitarian and social. The work shows faculty attach more value to the instrumental utility of SM, while the hedonic function is also significant. Practical implications Discerning dominant motive implies that SM use at the workplace should not be banned, rather effective regulated use will instil the faculty to enhance work outcomes. The conceptualisation of topology for SM use in academia at the workplace can aid in designing an effective organisation policy, and design of an internal SM platform. Originality/value The study is unique towards topology development for academic faculty and has many important implications for management and academia, especially towards policy design for SM use at the workplace. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to understand the current state of learners' use of social media in entrepreneurship courses and explore uses and gratifications on social media in entrepreneurship courses from the learners' perspective. The respondents must have participated in government or private entrepreneurship courses and joined the online group of those courses. Respondents are not college students, but more entrepreneurs, and their multi-attribute makes the research results and explanatory more abundant. The methods used are in-depth interviews (...) and questionnaires, a total of 458 valid data was collected. The results of the survey revealed four gratification factors namely trust, profit, learning, and social in online entrepreneurial groups. It is also found that the structures of the four gratification factors vary in three social media (Line, Facebook, and WeChat). In terms of the trust factor, there are significant differences among the three social media. and the score of ''trust'' outranks other factors. Most of the entrepreneurs' business is "networking business", and the business unit is mostly "micro". In short, the two gratification factors of trust and profit can be seen as specific gratifications for online entrepreneurial groups, especially the trust factor, which deserves more attention in the further research of online entrepreneurial courses on social media. (shrink)

To explore social media use in New Zealand, a sample of 1001 adults aged 18 and over were surveyed in November 2021. Participants were asked about the frequency of their use of different social media platforms (text message included). This report describes how often each of the nine social media sites and apps covered in the survey are used individually on a daily basis. Differences based on key demographics, i.e., age and gender, are tested for statistical significance, (...) and findings summarised. (shrink)

Using a purposive sample with an even distribution of 299 non-Hispanic Whites, 294 African Americans, 292 Asian Americans and 295 Hispanics, we test a moderated mediation model that examines the relationship between self-reported news media consumption (e.g., non-conservative and conservative) and environmental behavioural intentions. Our study found evidence supporting the mainstreaming hypothesis (converging attitudes) across key variables within the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Our results also reveal non-conservative outlets to be associated with more favourable environmental attitudes, subjective norms (...) and perceived behavioural control, while conservative outlets are associated with less favourable levels for two of these three variables. Results also indicate conditional indirect relationships between non-conservative news use on behavioural intentions through our TPB variables, which vary by race/ethnicity. (shrink)

This contribution aims to shed light on the interface between language competence and two significant developments in contemporary society: the increase in international mobility and the growing importance of mediated communication. First, I will highlight some common features of mobility and mediated communication and their interaction with second language proficiency, and summarize relevant findings from communication research and media studies. Next, I will focus on the relationship between language and media use. I will model the impact of second (...) language proficiency as a set of additional options within a variable context characterized by the interaction of linguistic competence, place of residence, and language status. I will analyze each factor in turn and illustrate my claims with data from empirical findings on student experience of residence abroad. I will then discuss implications for foreign language teaching before presenting some speculative thoughts about future developments. (shrink)

BackgroundHeavy media use has been linked to sleep problems in children, which may also extend to the infancy period. While international parent-advisory agencies, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, advise no screen time before 18 months, parents often do not follow this recommendation. Research on Italian infants’ early access to media is sparse, and only very few studies have investigated links with sleeping habits.MethodTo address this gap, we examined concurrent associations between parent-reported surveys of child technology use (...) and sleeping patterns. The Italian version of the 60 item Comprehensive Assessment of Family Media Exposure Survey, developed as part of a larger international study,, the Brief Screening Questionnaire for Infant Sleep Problems Sadeh, 2004) were completed online by 264 Italian parents of 8- to 36-month-olds and a subset completed the Parenting Stress Index Abidin, 1995) between April 2017 and April 2018.ResultsMore devices located in the child’s room and the more time spent watching TV or using an iPad were associated with less hours of sleep at night. Furthermore, more time spent watching TV or using a smartphone, as well as the number of devices in the room was associated with going to sleep later at night. Instrumental media use was associated with less sleep.ConclusionLike other countries, Italian infants have high levels of exposure to media, and differences in media patterns were associated with sleep patterns. Cultural factors influence both instrumental reasons for media use and sleep practices. Further research should explore how media use may serve to regulate emotion as a function of both contextual factors and individual differences. (shrink)

This study investigates how patterns of media use and exposure to media messages are related to attitudes about artificial intelligence (AI) image generators. In doing so, it builds on theoretical accounts of media framing and public opinion about science and technology topics, including AI. The analyses draw on data from a survey of the US public (N = 1,035) that included an experimental manipulation of exposure to tweets framing AI image generators in terms of real art, artists’ (...) concerns, artists’ outrage, or competing interpretations. The results show that technology news use and science fiction viewing predicted support for AI art but also predicted belief that AI image generators will take jobs and steal art styles from human artists. In addition, the experimental results demonstrate that exposure to specific media messages can influence these responses. The findings carry implications for understanding the future adoption, use, and regulation of AI image generators. (shrink)

Media use is a pervasive aspect of children’s home experiences but is often not considered in studies of the home learning environment. Media use could be detrimental to children’s language and literacy skills because it may displace other literacy-enhancing activities like shared reading and decrease the quantity and quality of caregiver-child interaction. Thus, the current study asked whether media use is associated with gains in children’s language and literacy skills both at a single time point and across (...) a school year and whether age moderates any association. Children (N = 1583) were from preschool through third grade classrooms and language and literacy skills were measured in the fall and spring of the school year. Parents reported how much time their child spends using media on a typical school day. Regression analyses showed that using 4 hours or more of media was related to lower literacy gains, but not to language gains. Multilevel models conducted as a robustness check showed that this effect did not hold when accounting for classroom. In neither set of models was there an interaction between age and media use. Single-time-point models did show some associations that did not manifest in more stringent models, highlighting the limitations of correlational designs that do not have measures of children’s skills over time. Given the concern and popular press coverage around children’s media use, it is important to acknowledge nonsignificant effects in this domain. These nonsignificant associations suggest that societal fears around children’s media use may be exaggerated. Notably, however, characteristics of children’s media use, like educational content or adult co-use, may moderate any effects. The relation between media use and language and literacy growth did not differ across the age range investigated suggesting that, within this range, younger children are not more vulnerable to detrimental effects. (shrink)

As gene editing technologies such as CRISPR have become increasingly prominent, so have media portrayals of them. With this in mind, the present study builds on theoretical accounts of framing effects, cultivation effects, and genre-specific viewing effects to examine how different forms of media use predict attitudes toward applications of gene editing. Specifically, the study tests how news use, overall television viewing, and science fiction viewing are related to such attitudes. The analyses draw on original data from two (...) surveys of the U.S. public, one conducted in 2020 and the other in 2021. The results from both surveys indicate that news use and overall television viewing predict support for uses of gene editing, whereas science fiction viewing is not significantly related to opinion. The findings suggest that media frames and images may carry implications for the trajectory of public opinion about gene editing technologies and, ultimately, the social context for their development and adoption. (shrink)

The desire to experience emotions is widely considered to be a key motivation for media use, especially for the use of media entertainment. But what exactly do people seek when they seek emotions? What kinds of gratifications do they obtain from the experience of emotions during media use? An overview of research on emotional gratifications shows that emotions can be gratifying in multiple ways – ranging from simple hedonistic gratifications to more complex gratifications such as feeling competent (...) or morally good. An integrative framework is outlined that aims at a more systematic understanding of emotional gratifications and their influence on selective media use. We suggest that different aspects of an emotion's gratification potential are appraised simultaneously, and integrated into a holistic appraisal outcome that can be conceptualized as ‘meta-emotion’. Meta-emotions guide the recipient's intuitive decision to accept, or reject a media offer's invitation to experience emotions. (shrink)

Food safety risk is becoming a vital issue for public health, and improving public awareness of FSR through social media is necessary. This study aims to explore specific mechanisms of FSR perception; it first categorizes 19 risk characteristics into two variables, dread and efficacy, and then examines how social media use affects perceived FSR through both variables. Additionally, the study explores the moderating effects of source credibility and science literacy on the mechanisms of FSR perception. Based on a (...) nationwide online survey of more than six salient food safety issues in China, the study found that exposure to food safety risk information on social media can help improve perceived FSR based on the proposed “dread–efficacy processing model”, where dread stimulates perceived risk, while efficacy suppresses risk perception. Moreover, source credibility intensifies the effect of social media use on efficacy appraisal, whereas science literacy exerts a “double-weakening” influence on dread appraisal. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. (shrink)

This study examines how different forms of media use predict attitudes toward the development of facial recognition technology (FRT) and applications of it by law enforcement to identify criminal suspects, identify potential terrorists, and monitor public protests. The theoretical framework builds on theories of cultivation and genre-specific viewing to develop hypotheses and research questions. The analyses draw on original data from two nationally representative surveys of the U.S. public conducted in 2020, amid a series of controversies and protests about (...) policing and racial justice. The results demonstrate that overall television viewing and crime media viewing predicted support for multiple uses of FRT, while Fox News viewing predicted support for using FRT to monitor protests. The findings advance our understanding of public opinion toward the technology and its implications for policing, protests, and social justice. (shrink)

Objectives: This study explored a multidimensional model of the relationships between social media use, gender, peer bullying victimization experiences, and the onset of anxiety symptoms among children. We hypothesized that greater experience of bullying would be associated with greater onset of anxiety. We also expected that gender and social media use would be linked with anxiety among elementary school children. To test this hypothesis, a structural equation modeling approach was used.Methods: A total of 456 elementary children aged 11–13 (...) years from nine schools were recruited for this research. We used two psychological measures: The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders and the Personal Experience Checklist as well as a sociodemographic questionnaire.Results: The social media usage survey found that all participants used social media. Instagram and YouTube were the platforms most used by the participants. The Structural Equation Model results suggest that bullying victimization and gender predicted the onset of anxiety in elementary school children. The model explained 32.1% of the variance of the outcome with very adequate fit indicators based on most indices, χ2 = 173.56, df = 52, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.92; TLI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.07. Instagram use was correlated positively with generalized anxiety disorder. Gender was negatively correlated with Instagram use and positively correlated with YouTube use. Girls were found to use Instagram more and boys were found to use YouTube more. It was also found that girls had higher scores onSCARED dimensions, except for school avoidance. Girls were more prone to onset of anxiety than boys, except for school avoidance, which was not related to gender. Boys were found to experience significantly more physical bullying than girls. On the other hand, girls were found to experience more panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social anxiety than boys.Conclusion: This study found that bullying victimization significantly influences the onset of anxiety in children. Particular attention should be paid to cyberbullying in this context. This study also found a link between gender and anxiety—girls had a greater tendency to experience the onset of various types of anxiety, including panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social anxiety. Gender was also correlated with the form of bullying victimization. The findings of this study suggest that boys were more likely to experience physical bullying than girls. Interestingly, we found that Instagram use was significantly correlated with developing separation anxiety. In particular, children demonstrated school avoidance when experiencing cyberbullying. Limitations and future directions are discussed. (shrink)

Scholars in the field of communication research have extensively studied television viewing in general and watching television news in particular. The book looks at the subject from an integrative theoretical perspective. Based on Schutzean sociology and action theoretical approaches to media use, the author argues that immediate social influences and other everyday life situations largely determine television use, and that the influence of short-term situational characteristics are often overlooked in person-centered explanatory models.In three empirical studies, the role of short-term (...) situat. (shrink)

It is argued that since its institutionalization in the 1970s, Uses and Gratifications research has been heavily influenced by applied economic theories about Expectancy Value and Subjective Expected Utility. Underlying these theories are assumptions about the acting individual having full mastery of situations. This idea is contrasted with the way in which action theory portrays action. Here, mastery of situations is not assumed at forehand, but depends on the situation and is something that has to be achieved. Action theories further (...) emphasize the influence of others. Applying these ideas to the study of media use means that more attention has to be paid to processes of gaining mastery, to situational influences, and to the influence of others. It is argued that discrete-time event history analysis may be a valuable tool to accomplish this. This may contribute to the study of several important questions in communication research, regarding audience flow and audience selectivity, and the social uses of media use. (shrink)

In this exploratory study, higher education faculty perceptions regarding acceptability of social media use for out-of-class student engagement are identified. Hypotheses are developed and tested using a survey to address the impact of factors such as awareness, faculty/student relationship status, gender, academic discipline, and rank on faculty attitudes toward out-of-class social media use for student engagement. Findings indicate that faculty members are aware of social media, but use varies. Overall, they do not view social media as (...) an important part of out-of-class engagement, but it is viewed as more acceptable for engagement with former students. In addition, faculty from Marketing and Communications disciplines and Associate/Full Professors perceive social media use to be more acceptable for student engagement when compared with their colleagues from other disciplines and lower ranks. Implications and conclusions are discussed for development of university social media usage policies and directions for future research. (shrink)

In recent research, the declining support for European integration is often attributed to the lack of a European public sphere. The comparatively low level of Europeanization in the news media is said to promote euroscepticism or at least hinder further integration. We ask if, and what kinds of, media effects are theoretically plausible and empirically observable in the context of European integration. Based on Eurobarometer data, we evaluate the impact of domestic media use of EU citizens on (...) their attitudes towards the EU and Europe. Using structural equation modeling techniques in a cross-national analysis, we can demonstrate that domestic media use has a positive but small effect on knowledge, attachment to Europe and support for the European Union. (shrink)

Belgium, and Europe in general, has seen a strong increase in the number of refugees arriving over the past three years. At the same time we also note an increasing polarization of Belgian public opinion on this subject. Among the main actors to shape this public opinion are news media, as they contribute to or combat stereotyping of (sub)groups in the population. The purpose of the current study is to analyze to which extent media consumption and trust have (...) an impact on public opinion on two minority groups – immigrants and refugees – in a representative sample of the Belgian adult population (n = 1500). We gathered data on Belgian news media consumption and trust, and attitudes on immigrants and refugees through an online questionnaire. The results indicate that Belgian adults hold more positive attitudes on immigrants than on refugees. The reading of quality online newspapers as well as high levels of trust in television and radio are correlated with a positive attitude towards both groups, whereas the consumption of commercial television and popular newspapers go along with a negative attitude. Fear of terrorism (negative relation) and a negative evaluation of media coverage of refugees (positive relation) also have a sizeable influence. In terms of regional differences within Belgium, we find that citizens in the Brussels Capital Region hold more positive attitudes towards both groups than those in Flanders and Wallonia. (shrink)

With an eye on the future of global ethics, I argue that social-media technologies are not morally neutral tools but are, for all intents and purposes, a kind of agent. They nudge us to do things that are bad for us. Moreover, I argue that we have a duty to quit using social-media platforms, not just on account of possible duties to preserve our own well-being but because users are akin to test subjects on whom developers are testing (...) new nudges, and we ought to deprive them of their test subjects. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that boredom can be an important experience that contributes to personal autonomous agency by providing authentic motivation, and that strategies of social media providers to bind users’ attention to their platforms undermine this authenticity. As discussed in social epistemology and media ethics for a while now, such strategies can lead to so-called epistemic or filter bubbles. Our analysis of the relation between boredom and social media use focuses on a similarly impairing effect (...) of social media on users’ autonomy, which we call authenticity bubbles. (shrink)

The present study investigated the associations between social media use integration and Technological Intimate Partner Violence (TIPV) while also exploring the mediating role of the three dimensions of jealousy and the moderating role of moral absolutism. Our sample consisted of 404 adults aged 18 to 59. The results indicated a significant positive effect of social media use integration on cognitive jealousy and TIPV. Social media use integration was correlated with behavioral jealousy and TIPV, while TIPV was positively (...) associated with all three dimensions of jealousy. The moderated mediation analysis suggested that behavioral jealousy fully mediated the effect of social media use integration toward TIPV at all levels of moral absolutism, while cognitive jealousy had a partial mediating effect only at medium and high levels of moral absolutism. We discuss our findings by pointing out that (a) various dimensions of jealousy might be influenced differently by social media use integration, and (b) individuals with high levels of moral absolutism might be more prone to cognitive jealousy after being exposed to prolonged social media use. We acknowledge that our results may have limited generalizability as our sample was primarily female. Research involving larger portions of male participants would be important to pursue. (shrink)

This article sets out to provide a conceptual contribution to theoretical and empirical work on the level of media repertoires. We will first discuss theoretical approaches which allow for an explanation of media repertoires and relate them to the most prominent approaches to selective audience behavior. Secondly, in order to empirically analyze media repertoires we propose a combination of secondary analyses of existing surveys on media use and qualitative studies on the internal ‘architecture’ of these repertoires (...) and their practical meaning in the user's everyday life. These proposals for secondary analyses are illustrated by two examples based on different data sets and referring to different levels of analysis. (shrink)

Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Volume 45, Issue 1-2, Page 55-86, June 2022.

Based on a time-lag model, this study tested for changes in young children’s home access and use of digital media in the 2012–2018 period as well as in their parents’ views on such media. What it found was that in only a few years the digital devices available to children have become more mobile, more accessible, and more numerous in these children’s bedrooms, especially in single-parent households. Also, on average children have strongly increased their daily media use—up (...) to 102 minutes. This is especially true for both younger children and children in middle to highly educated households. Our findings support the complementary media adoption theory more than the displacement theory. Over the years parents have tended more and more to use digital media as ‘babysitters’, while they also found it increasingly difficult to stop their children from using such media, which may have major implications for parenting support activities. (shrink)

Vaccine is one of the most effective means to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries, but vaccine hesitancy has been always widespread among people due to individual differences in access to vaccine information. This research aims to empirically investigate the relationship between media use preference, knowledge level, risk perception and willingness to vaccinate among Chinese residents. A cross-sectional survey of a Chinese sample was carried out to explore factors that influence the COVID-19 vaccination intention of Chinese residents. (...) The empirical results show that the knowledge level and risk perception of Chinese residents positively contribute to vaccination intention. People with video-usage preference have lower levels of knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccine than those with text-usage preference. People’s risk perception of the COVID-19 pandemic is not influenced by their media use preference or knowledge level, as COVID-19 is a global pandemic and a significant social risk. The current study yields health-related implications for the role of media use preference in vaccination intention. (shrink)

Social media plays a vital role in consumers’ purchasing decision making. There are still gaps in existing research on the relationship between divided dimensions of social media use and impulse buying, as well as the mediating and moderating effects therein. This study explored the mediation and moderation effects in the relationship between different social media usage patterns, emotional responses, and consumer impulse buying. Data from 479 college students who were social media users in China were analyzed (...) using structural equation modeling. The results showed that active and passive social media use were significantly and positively associated with users’ enjoyment, whereas passive social media use significantly increased depression. Both enjoyment and depression were significantly and positively associated with users’ impulse buying. Materialism positively moderated the relationship between enjoyment and impulsive consumption, while self-control significantly reduced the effect of depression on impulse buying. These findings that emotion mediated and personality traits moderated relationships between social media use and impulse buying expand impulsive purchase literature and provide insights for guiding college students’ healthy use of social media and rational consumption. (shrink)

This article will first of all present a brief literature review on media use and identity construction and integration. This overview will be given in light of two phenomena: The concepts of ‘social quality’ and ‘cultural participation’ and the role played by the media in this on the one hand, and the multicultural composition of Dutch society on the other. The present contribution looks at the four largest ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands: Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese and Antillean (...) youngsters, and adults. The key issue is ‘integration’ with its six dimensions, among which the extent to which ethnic minorities endorse norms and values of Dutch society, and the minorities’ motivation with respect to integration. We also focus on related features, such as religious outlook and linguistic fluency. The measure of participation or integration in Dutch society is related to the use of four kinds of media: Radio, television, print media, and the Internet. The present contribution addresses the following question: To what extent are, on the one hand, bonding or, on the other, bridging predictors of media use among ethnic minorities? We will address the relative importance of these four media in terms of media time and their twofold ‘bridging’ and ‘bonding’ capacities; for each of these media we check the extent to which ethnic minorities favor media from their native country and use applications which focus on their country of origin or their own group. (shrink)

Given recent advances in technology, connectivity, and the popularity of social media platforms, recent literature has devoted great attention to problematic Facebook use. However, exploring the potential predictors of problematic social media use beyond Facebook use has become paramount given the increasing popularity of multiple alternative platforms. In this study, a sample of 584 social media users was recruited to complete an online survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, patterns, and preferences of social media use, problematic social (...) class='Hi'>media use, social media use motives, psychological well-being, self-esteem, and positive and negative affect. Results indicated that 6.68% of all respondents could be potentially classed as problematic users. Moreover, further analysis indicated that intrapersonal motive, negative affect, daily social media use, surveillance motive, and positive affect each predicted PSMU. These variables accounted for about 37% of the total variance in PSMU, with intrapersonal motive driving the greatest predictive contribution, over and above the effects of patterns of social media use and sociodemographic variables. These findings contribute to the increasing literature on PSMU. The results of this study are discussed in light of the existing literature on PSMU. (shrink)

The study of the effects of interactive media has mainly focused on dysregulated behaviors, the conceptualization of which is supported by the paradigms of addiction. Research into Game Transfer Phenomena examines the interplay between video game features, events while playing, and the manipulation of hardware, which can lead to sensory-perceptual and cognitive intrusions and self-agency transient changes related to video games. GTP can influence the interpretation of stimuli and everyday interactions and, in contrast to gaming disorder, are relatively common (...) and not necessarily negative. However, some players have reported feeling distress due to their GTP. This study focuses on how dispositional and interactive media habit factors are related to GTP and two forms of problematic interactive media [problematic video game playing and problematic social media use ]. A sample of 343 university students who played video games completed an online survey. Not all who had experienced GTP were identified as exhibiting PVG or PSMU, but all of those in the PVG group had experienced GTP. Overall, the profiles of the groups, including GTP, PVG, and PSMU, were in accordance with previous findings. Those in the GTP and the PVG groups were characterized by being male, being highly engaged in the game, and showed preferences for game-related activities. However, while those in the GTP group were significantly more likely to be fantasy-prone, those with PVG were the ones who played most per day. Those in the PSMU group were characterized by being female and/or extroverted, frequently using social/sharing platforms, and seldom playing video games. A hierarchical binary logistic regression revealed that males were more likely to experience GTP. Increases in PVG, fantasy proneness, and neuroticism increased the odds of GTP. Future work can benefit from considering the role of GTP in gaming disorder, since intrusive thoughts, cognitive biases, and poor impulse control are pivotal in the initiation and maintenance of dysfunctional playing behaviors. (shrink)

In this paper, we introduce the concept of policy malaise, which refers to citizens’ dissatisfaction with the way political institutions and processes handle specific problems such as the refugee issue in Germany. Based on a representative online panel survey with two waves conducted in 2016 and 2017 (N = 836), we explore the occurrence of policy malaise among the German population and its relation to issue-specific media use, trust in news media, and issue fatigue. First, the results indicate (...) that policy malaise toward the refugee issue is widespread in Germany. Second, we found that media use relates differentially to policy malaise: While high exposure to public broadcasting was negatively associated with policy malaise, we found the opposite for private broadcasting. Third, policy malaise is higher for people who experience issue fatigue and lower for people who trust the news media. Finally, trust in media reinforces the negative and positive relations between media use and policy malaise. Implications concerning the associations between policy malaise and political alienation in its broader sense are discussed. (shrink)

Media use by ethnic minorities is increasingly becoming a politicized matter, appearing regularly in discussions on multiculturalism and integration. In a globalizing media-landscape, the rise of ethnic and global ethnic media paradoxically enables ethnic minorities to maintain links with forms of ethnic identity. Especially interesting in this respect is media use by adolescents, often on the crossroads between different cultures. This article departs from the notion concerned with the extent to which media use of adolescents (...) from ethnic minorities actually differs from that of their Belgian counterparts, and instead focuses on the role ethnicity plays as a determinant of media use when weighed up against other socio-economic or education-related variables. Based on a large-scale Belgian survey of 12- to 18-year-olds, this article shows, amongst other results, that the importance of ethnic-cultural background as an indicator for media use by adolescents from ethnic minorities ought to be placed into perspective. (shrink)

The novel coronavirus disease has become a global pandemic, causing substantial anxiety. One potential factor in the spread of anxiety in response to a pandemic threat is emotion contagion, the finding that emotional experiences can be socially spread through conscious and unconscious pathways. Some individuals are more susceptible to social contagion effects and may be more likely to experience anxiety and other mental health symptoms in response to a pandemic threat. Therefore, we studied the relationship between emotion contagion and mental (...) health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We administered the Emotion Contagion Scale along with a measure of anxiety in response to COVID-19 and secondary outcome measures of depression, anxiety, stress, and obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms. These measures were completed by a large student sample in the United States. Data were collected in the months of April and May of 2020 when the fear of COVID-19 was widespread. Results revealed that greater susceptibility to emotion contagion was associated with greater concern about the spread of COVID-19, more depression, anxiety, stress, and OCD symptoms. Consumption of media about COVID-19 also predicted anxiety about COVID-19, though results were not moderated by emotion contagion. However, emotion contagion did moderate the relationship between COVID-19-related media consumption and elevated OCD symptoms. Although limited by a cross-sectional design that precludes causal inferences, the present results highlight the need for study of how illness fears may be transmitted socially during a pandemic. (shrink)

This study explored LaRose and Eastin's model of media attendance, within a European context. It extended the uses and gratifications paradigm within the framework of social cognitive theory by instituting new operational measures of gratifications sought, reconstructed as outcome expectations. Although the model of media attendance offers some promising steps forward in measuring media selectivity and usage, and to some extent is applicable to another context of media use, the relative importance of outcome expectancies in explaining (...) media usage and selectivity is not fully supported. (shrink)

This article, which looks at exposure to and the use of host and home media by Turkish diaspora in Belgium, illustrates that media use is determined by cultural as well as socio-demographic features. By means of a quantitative survey among four hundred respondents of Turkish origin between the ages of eighteen and sixty, the use of host and home media in general and news contents in particular were analyzed in relation to culture-specific features such as ethnic cultural (...) position, religion, and command of language, alongside with socio-demographic features such as age, gender, education, years of residence and socio-economic status. Our investigation showed religion, ethnic-cultural position and command of the Turkish language to be the strongest determinants for home language news media use, while host language news media use was strongly determined by command of the Dutch or French language, length of residence and educational level. These findings, especially those pertaining to news use, bring nuance to a certain number of earlier findings with Turkish youngsters in the Netherlands and Flanders, whose media use was predominantly related to socio-demographics. (shrink)

Individual differences in effortful control, a component of temperament, reflecting the ability to use attention and other cognitive processes to self-regulate emotion and behavior, contribute to child academic adjustment, social competence, and wellbeing. Research has linked excessive screen time in early childhood to reduced self-regulation ability. Furthermore, research suggests that parents are more likely to use screens with children who have more challenging temperaments, such as low levels of effortful control. Since screen time by children between the ages of 0 (...) and 18 has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains timely to investigate the developmental pattern of association between child screen media use and effortful control. We hypothesize that higher levels of screen media intake at age 3.5 will be associated with lower effortful control at age 4.5 and that lower effortful control at 3.5 will contribute to more screen media intake at age 4.5. This study draws on participants followed longitudinally over the span of 2-years for an investigation of Canadian preschoolers’ screen media use during the pandemic. A follow-up with this sample was completed in 2021. Analyses using a cross-lagged panel model revealed stability in child screen time and effortful control between the ages of 3.5 and 4.5. Child screen time at age 3.5 significantly contributed to decreased effortful control scores at the age of 4.5, whereas effortful control at age 3.5 did not contribute to screen time at age 4.5. Our results partially confirmed our hypothesis and indicated that higher levels of screen time intake were detrimental to the development of effortful control. These results suggest that screen media use, an exceedingly frequent activity, may play an enduring role in development by shaping young children’s temperaments. (shrink)

This article outlines the relationship that cultural capital, which is identified as a media user’s education level, shares with news media consumption patterns, civic engagement, and cultural participation. The article’s findings are based on data gathered during a 2015 investigation on news media consumption conducted by a group of European researchers as part of a comparative research project, supplemented with data from a survey on a random sample of Polish citizens conducted in May 2019. The project for (...) the empirical 2015 study aimed to examine the principles of building individual media repertoires as a representation of media usage patterns and experiences related to news media consumption. The study focused on universal aspects of news media consumption, while simultaneously allowing for the discovery of aspects of news media use that are specific to the individual countries participating in the study: Germany, Denmark, Israel, Belgium-Fr., Belgium-Flanders, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Croatia, and Poland. (shrink)

An expanding media universe confronts readers, viewers, and users with an abundance of media content that, for the most part, will not be used by the audience, and will, in many cases, not even be considered for use. Selecting what to use and not to use is functional in avoiding information overload or ‘technostress’, but, at the same time, necessary to make use of the media environment. The selection of media initiates gratifications, serves particular functions, enables (...) certain effects, all depending on the perspective. Media use and selectivity constitute a field of remarkable tradition in communication research. The question how individuals deal with media and why they use certain media content has been in the focus of communication research from the very beginning of empirical media research; since Lazarsfeld and his colleagues conducted their radio research projects, which included Herzog's widely cited study on daytime serial listeners. Thinking about media use reached a first prime with the emergence of Uses and Gratifications approaches; an abundance of studies about ‘what people do with the media’ have been published during the golden years of Uses and Gratifications in the 1970s and 1980s. Bryant and Miron identified Uses and Gratifications – along with Agenda Setting – as the approach most frequently used in three communication journals from 1956 through 2000. (shrink)

During the Soviet period, the media served as one of the main propagandist tools of the authoritarian regime, using a standardized and monotype media system across the Soviet Republics. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, 15 countries became independent. The transition from Soviet communism to capitalism has led to the reconstruction of economic, socio-cultural, and political systems. One of the most affected institutions in post-Soviet countries was the media. Media have played a supportive role during (...) rough times, when there was, on the one hand, the struggle for liberation and sovereignty, and, on the other hand, the need for nation building. It has been almost 30 years since the Soviet Republics achieved independence, yet the media have not been freed from political control and continue to serve as ideological apparatuses of authoritarian regimes in post-Soviet countries. Freedom of speech and independent media are still under threat. The current study focuses on media use in Azerbaijan, one of the under-researched post-Soviet countries. The interviews for this study were conducted with 40 participants living in Nakhichevan and Baku. In-depth, semi-structured interview techniques were used as research method. Findings are discussed under six main themes in the conclusion. (shrink)