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Young people use online communication technologies to provide intimate information to each other and exchange sexual content and messages. When such information is misunderstood or misused by others, it may result in harmful experiences and negative psychosocial outcomes. In the present study, we hypothesized that online sexual engagement of adolescents and early emerging adults is indirectly connected to a lower psychosocial well-being via an increased number of sexual victimization experiences on the Internet. Based on a representative sample of 1033 German Internet users (14–20 years), we found that sexting willingness and 'sexy' self-presentation were associated with a higher number of online sexual victimization experiences, which, in turn, was related to higher loneliness, lower life satisfaction, and worse mental health. For all mediation paths, we identified stable indirect effects. The findings expand previous research on Internet usage, online behavior, and psychosocial well-being by explicitly focusing on the sexual engagement of young Internet users.

Previous research on stress and media use mainly concentrated on between-person effects. We add to this research field by additionally assessing within-person associations, assuming that experiencing more stress than usual goes along with more nomophobia (“no-mobile-phone phobia”) and more passive and active Facebook use than usual, cross-sectionally and over time, and by exploring potential age differences. We conducted a secondary analysis of three waves of a representative multi-wave survey of adult Dutch internet users (N = 861). Specifically, we used two subsamples: (1) smartphones users for the analyses on nomophobia (n = 600) and (2) Facebook users for the analyses on social media (n = 469). Employing random-intercept cross-lagged panel models, we found within-person correlations between nomophobia and stress at one time-point, but not over time. For the younger age group (18–39 years), more passive Facebook use than usual was associated with more stress than usual six months later, and more stress than usual was followed by less passive Facebook use six month later. There were no longitudinal relationships for active Facebook use across the different age groups. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed., Highlights • We study the relationships of nomophobia, Facebook use and stress over time. • Nomophobia and stress correlate on the within-person level at one time-point. • Passive Facebook use is associated with more stress over time for younger adults. • Stress relates to less passive Facebook use six months later for younger adults. • There are no longitudinal effects for nomophobia, active Facebook use, and stress.

In the present study, we used Latent Transition Analysis as an innovative approach in cyberbullying research in order to detect multi-facetted involvement patterns. Since developmental aspects of cyberbullying are still poorly understood, we analyzed the stabilities and transition probabilities of these involvement patterns across time using longitudinal survey data. Based on a three-wave panel survey among 1723 pupils (1215 years old), we identified a five-latent status model to best fit the data. Apart from a large group of non-involved pupils, there were four moderately to heavily involved cyberbullying classes, all characterized by a co-occurrence of perpetration and victimization experiences. We found two moderate and content-specific classes of cyberbullying: gossiping patterns that were predominant among girls and insulting patterns that rather appeared among male and lower-educated adolescents. Moreover, we revealed a heavily victimized group (with mild perpetration) and a very small class of heavy perpetrator-victims. Transition probabilities showed that cyberbullying behavior was quite stable over time. All cyberbullying classes comprised perpetration and victimization experiences.A small class of adolescents was intensively involved in all forms of cyberbullying.Girls were more involved in gossiping, boys in insulting forms of cyberbullying.Pupils who were not involved in cyberbullying mostly stayed non-involved over time.Heavy involved pupils transitioned into less frequently involved classes over time.

Although research on cyberbullying has grown rapidly in the last years, holistic explanation approaches are still rare. In a first step, the present study discusses a theoretically derived, integrative model explaining a cyberbullies behavior referring to individual and structural influencing factors. This model was empirically tested among a sample of 1428 German high school pupils within a two-wave panel survey. Additionally, it was investigated whether the explanation patterns vary depending on the particular audience reached by the cyberbullying behavior. The results showed that technical resources enhanced the perpetration mediated via higher levels of perceived behavioral control. In contrast, social resources and norms also directly favored the perpetration of cyberbullying, however, only if this was witnessed by a certain audience. It is assumed that there is a group of cyberbullies who use the behavior as an instrumental strategy in order to reach socially motivated goals. The perpetration of cyberbullying can be considered a very stable behavior.The influence of technical resources is completely mediated via cognitive processes.Socially more and less preferred pupils are likely to become cyberbullies.Non-public forms are mainly explained by individual parts and traditional bullying.Cyberbullying in front of an audience is more strongly guided by social indicators.

The psychosocial causes and consequences of online video game play were evaluated.Over a 1- and 2-year period, evidence for social compensation processes were found.Among young adults, online games appear to be socially compensating spaces.No significant displacement or compensation patterns were found for adolescents.No significant displacement or compensation patterns were found for older adults. Due to its worldwide popularity, researchers have grown concerned as to whether or not engagement within online video gaming environments poses a threat to public health. Previous research has uncovered inverse relationships between frequency of play and a range of psychosocial outcomes, however, a reliance on cross-sectional research designs and opportunity sampling of only the most involved players has limited the broader understanding of these relationships. Enlisting a large representative sample and a longitudinal design, the current study examined these relationships and the mechanisms that underlie them to determine if poorer psychosocial outcomes are a cause (i.e., pre-existing psychosocial difficulties motivate play) or a consequence (i.e., poorer outcomes are driven by use) of online video game engagement. The results dispute previous claims that online game play has negative effects on the psychosocial well-being of its users and instead indicate that individuals play online games to compensate for pre-existing social difficulties.

We examine the relationship between gaming gratifications and genre preferences.We develop and test a valid measure of gaming gratifications.Game mechanics and narration are the most important gaming gratifications.Players are more motivated by ego-centered gratifications than by social gratifications.The core genres roleplaying and action games are best predicted by gratifications. Computer games can be regarded as mainstream media and one of the driving forces in today's entertainment industry. With the recent changes in the field, we also witness an expansion in genres and user groups. A seemingly basic question gains new relevance in light of the growing diversification: Why do people turn to various types of computer games? In this study, we examine the relationship between gaming gratifications and genre preferences on the basis of a multivariate model deduced from previous research. We applied this model to survey data from a representative sample of 4500 gamers. We found that, apart from socio-demographics, individual and content-related gratifications are relevant predictors for genre preferences, especially for "core-gamer" genres such as roleplaying or action and shooter games. Beyond the "core-gamer", there is large group of (older) casual players who prefer puzzle and simulation games and seek fewer and different gratifications from computer gaming.

Social online games are a mass phenomenon and, for most of the users, a social activity. Even though there are numerous studies on social online games they do not explicitly investigate the offline contacts of the gamers, which play a significant role for their social embeddedness. Regarding the online gaming-related contacts possible strong ties such as friendship relationships are often neglected. Additionally modality switching between the two spheres is not further investigated. In this paper, we strive to extend the research on the interrelation of social game use and the social embeddedness of social online gamers, as well as modality switching between the online and offline context. In doing so we provide new insights into the emergence and quality of gaming-related relationships. We collected information on everyday life as well as on gaming-related friendships from a representative sample of 2213 gamers and 287 non-gamers in Germany. Our results show that social online gamers do not differ significantly from other gamers or non-gamers regarding the number of their good friends. However, we found a significant impact of social online gaming frequency on the probability of meeting exclusively online friends. Different social motives played an important role for modality switching processes. Players with a pronounced motive to gain social capital and to play in a team had the highest probability to transform their social relations from online to offline context. We found that social online gamers are well integrated and use the game to spend time with old friends—and to recruit new ones. Our results suggest that gaming-related ties might be very useful: especially modality switching between the two spheres might lead to strong ties and accordingly to additional bonding social capital.

The impact of video game play on adolescent social circles were evaluated.The results provide support for the emergence of social displacement effects.Social online play corresponds with smaller, lower quality, offline social circles.Social offline play does not relate to offline social circle size or quality. In recent years, there have been rising concerns about the impact of online video game play on users' socialization, particularly among adolescent players. The current study addresses one of these concerns and evaluates the potential impact of social displacement on the size and quality of users' social circles due to video game play. Using a representative sample of adolescent players, the results provide support for the emergence of social displacement effects. Increased social online video game play, but not social offline video game play, was found to correspond with smaller, and lower quality, offline social circles. However, further research is needed to assess the impact of these declines on everyday socialization, such its potential negative influence on the development and maintenance of social skills.