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Banougnin BH, Toska E, Maughan-Brown B, Rudgard W, Hertzog L, Jochim J, Armstrong A, Cluver L. Associations of social media and health content use with sexual risk behaviours among adolescents in South Africa. Sex Reprod Health Matters 2023; 31:2267893. [PMID: 37947433 PMCID: PMC10796125 DOI: 10.1080/26410397.2023.2267893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Increasing rates of mobile phone access present potential new opportunities and risks for adolescents' sexual and reproductive health in resource-poor settings. We investigated associations between mobile phone access/use and sexual risks in a cohort of 10-24-year-olds in South Africa. 1563 adolescents (69% living with HIV) were interviewed in three waves between 2014 and 2018. We assessed mobile phone access and use to search for health content and social media. Self-reported sexual risks included: sex after substance use, unprotected sex, multiple sexual partnerships and inequitable sexual partnerships in the past 12 months. We examined associations between mobile phone access/use and sexual risks using covariate-adjusted mixed-effects logistic regression models. Mobile phone access alone was not associated with any sexual risks. Social media use alone (vs. no mobile phone access) was associated with a significantly increased probability of unprotected sex (adjusted average marginal effects [AMEs] + 4.7 percentage points [ppts], 95% CI 1.6-7.8). However, health content use (vs. no mobile phone access) was associated with significantly decreased probabilities of sex after substance use (AMEs -5.3 ppts, 95% CI -7.4 to -3.2) and unprotected sex (AMEs -7.5 ppts, 95% CI -10.6 to -4.4). Moreover, mobile phone access and health content use were associated with increased risks of multiple sexual partnerships in boys. Health content use was associated with increased risks of inequitable sexual partnerships in adolescents not living with HIV. Results suggest an urgent need for strategies to harness mobile phone use for protection from growing risks due to social media exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boladé Hamed Banougnin
- Programme Data Analyst, United Nations Population Fund West and Central Africa Regional Office, Dakar, Senegal; Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Elona Toska
- Chief Research Officer, Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Associate Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa; [Research Associate] Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Brendan Maughan-Brown
- Chief Research Officer, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town, South Africa
| | - William Rudgard
- Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Lucas Hertzog
- Research Fellow, Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Research Fellow, Curtin School of Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
| | - Janina Jochim
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Alice Armstrong
- Regional HIV/AIDS Specialist, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Region, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Lucie Cluver
- Professor of Child and Family Social Work, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, UK; Honorary Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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Piccardi L, Burrai J, Palmiero M, Quaglieri A, Lausi G, Cordellieri P, Fraschetti A, Giannini AM, Mari E. A cross-sectional study of gender role adherence, moral disengagement mechanisms and online vulnerability in adolescents. Heliyon 2023; 9:e18910. [PMID: 37593623 PMCID: PMC10428035 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The wide availability of electronic devices accessible to teenagers has enabled them to use the internet to communicate, share, and obtain information. However, the use of the internet and social media has also increased the risk of vulnerability, exposing people, particularly adolescents, to several risks. We collected data from a sample of 366 adolescents (186 females and 180 males) aged 14-20 years (mean age = 17 ± 1.33 years) to investigate the mediating role of moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms in the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. Data were collected in both the inner-city and suburban high schools of Rome (Italy) using the Qualtrics Platform Online. The participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Online Vulnerability Scale, and the Civic Moral Disengagement Scale. All participants declared that they accessed and used the internet frequently. Using SPSS, the data were checked for outliers, common method bias, and normal distribution; then, correlation and mediation analyses were performed. Based on the correlation results, a mediation analysis was performed using only the displacement of responsibility as a mediator of the gender-online vulnerability link. Age was entered in the mediation model as a covariate. The results showed that girls were more vulnerable online than boys, who in turn used more moral disengagement mechanisms. In addition, moral displacement showed a positive indirect effect on the relationship between gender and online vulnerability. This means that when including the moral displacement in the mediation model boys appeared more exposed to online vulnerability as they probably adopted more immoral behaviors. These results could help to develop interventions to sensitize adolescents on both taking responsibilities for their actions on the Internet. Limitations and future research directions are briefly discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Piccardi
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185, Rome, RM, Italy
- San Raffaele Cassino Hospital, 03043, Cassino, Italy
| | - Jessica Burrai
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185, Rome, RM, Italy
| | | | | | - Giulia Lausi
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185, Rome, RM, Italy
| | | | - Angelo Fraschetti
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185, Rome, RM, Italy
| | - Anna Maria Giannini
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185, Rome, RM, Italy
| | - Emanuela Mari
- Department of Psychology, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185, Rome, RM, Italy
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Bedrosova M, Mylek V, Dedkova L, Velicu A. Who Is Searching for Cyberhate? Adolescents' Characteristics Associated with Intentional or Unintentional Exposure to Cyberhate. CYBERPSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL NETWORKING 2023. [PMID: 37083486 DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2022.0201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023]
Abstract
Cyberhate is one of the online risks that adolescents can experience online. It is considered a content risk when it is unintentionally encountered and a conduct risk when the user actively searches for it. Previous research has not differentiated between these experiences, although they can concern different groups of adolescents and be connected to distinctive risk factors. To address this, our study first focuses on both unintentional and intentional exposure and investigates the individual-level risk factors that differentiate them. Second, we compare each exposed group of adolescents with those who were not exposed to cyberhate. We used survey data from a representative sample of adolescents (N = 6,033, aged 12-16 years, 50.3 percent girls) from eight European countries-Czechia, Finland, Flanders, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia-and conducted multinomial logistic regression. Our findings show that adolescents with higher sensation seeking, proactive normative beliefs about aggression (NBA), and who report cyberhate perpetration, are at higher risk of intentionally searching for cyberhate contents compared with those who are unintentionally exposed. In comparison with unexposed adolescents, reporting other risky experiences was a risk factor for both types of exposure. Furthermore, NBA worked differently-reactive NBA was a risk factor for intentional exposure, but proactive NBA did not play a role and even decreased the chance of unintentional exposure. Digital skills increased both types of exposure. Our findings stress the need to differentiate between intentional and unintentional cyberhate exposure and to examine proactive and reactive NBA separately.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Bedrosova
- Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, The Czech Republic
| | - Vojtech Mylek
- Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, The Czech Republic
| | - Lenka Dedkova
- Interdisciplinary Research Team on Internet and Society, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, The Czech Republic
| | - Anca Velicu
- Institute of Sociology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania
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Associations between online communication with strangers and mild delinquency in junior high school students. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03317-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
AbstractToday, adolescents can easily make contact with strangers online. The present study examines the relation of online communication with strangers (OCS) and mild delinquency among junior high school students and explores which risk factors are associated with both types of behavior, taking gender differences into account. A total of 1873 Japanese adolescents (aged 12–15) with mobile phones completed online questionnaires assessing internet usage (duration, variability), parental behavior (violence, monitoring), and adolescent characteristics (depression, self-control) as potential predictors of OCS and mild delinquency. Sequential model testing revealed that the duration of internet usage was associated with both dependent variables, whereas its variability was associated with OCS alone. Self-control and parental violence predicted both outcome variables in girls, but only mild delinquency in boys. Depression was related with both behaviors in boys. Parental monitoring was negatively associated with OCS among girls and with mild delinquency among boys. Overall, OCS appeared to have a similar function for girls as mild delinquency did for boys. Implications for future studies and preventive programs will be discussed.
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