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This study examines television viewing motivations and patterns for a sample of 284 persons aged over 60. Results indicate that respondents watch television for about four hours each day, which is almost twice as much as the general population. A considerable number of respondents see television as a temporal and social substitute. Parasocial interaction, loneliness relief, passing time, boredom avoidance and activity substitution are obvious viewing motivations. In addition, correlational analysis shows specific relationships between living conditions and viewing motives. Interaction potential, mobility and need intensity are related to both temporal and social viewing motives. For instance, widow(er)s seem to watch television to substitute both the lack of social contacts and deficient time structuring. An attenuated integration in society and low life satisfaction are correlated with watching for parasocial interaction and activity substitution as well.

Studies on the media use of incarcerated persons often depart from a narrow theoretical perspective. Inspired by the media effects tradition or by the uses and gratifications approach, they concentrate on the plausible (causal) relationships between the media preferences of perpetrators and the type of offences they have committed, or on the therapeutic functions of mass media in prison settings. This research note presents the results of an extensive quantitative and qualitative investigation into the media use of convicts in five Flemish penitentiaries. The underlying theoretical model integrates both criminological and communication insights to explain the media consumption of individuals inside prison walls. More particularly, the `imported' sociodemographic and criminal background characteristics of prisoners, their concrete living conditions and the (stress-inducing) interaction between the depriving prison environment and the individual, are considered to be the most important determinants of their media use.

When bystanders want to help victims of harassment on social network sites, they can be guided by the affordances of different communication modalities in order to make a communicative choice. Elaborating on the data of a previous experimental study with 453 adolescents, we compared bystanders' behavioural intentions to help the victim according to their 'mediacy' (via communication technologies (CT) or face-to-face) and their 'privacy' (in public or in private). Furthermore, we investigated whether the context of the harassing incident (incident severity, identity and behaviour of other bystanders) influenced the 'mediacy' and 'privacy' of bystanders' helping intentions. The results showed that in general bystanders had higher behavioural intentions to help the victim in private (vs. in public) and via CT (vs. face-to-face). While incident severity influenced the 'mediacy' of bystanders' helping intentions, the identity and behaviour of other bystanders affected the 'privacy' of their helping intentions.

Cyberbullying on social network sites poses a significant threat to the mental and physical health of victimized adolescents. Although the role of bystanders in solving bullying instances has been demonstrated repeatedly in research on traditional bullying, their role in cyberbullying remains relatively understudied. Therefore, we set up an experimental scenario study in order to examine the influence of contextual factors (severity of the incident, identity and behaviour of other bystanders) on bystanders behavioural intentions to help the victim or reinforce the bully in cases of harassment on Facebook. Four hundred and fifty-three second year students of Flemish secondary schools participated in the study. The results on the one hand showed that bystanders had higher behavioural intentions to help the victim when they witnessed a more severe incident. Incident severity also interacted with other bystanders identity in influencing behavioural intentions to help the victim. On the other hand, bystanders had higher behavioural intentions to join in the bullying when other bystanders were good friends rather than acquaintances. In addition, an interaction effect was found between other bystanders identity and behaviour on behavioural intentions to join in the bullying. Furthermore, both helping and reinforcing behavioural intentions differed according to gender.

Offline networks, online bullying: a social network analysis of cyberbullying in a school context Offline networks, online bullying: a social network analysis of cyberbullying in a school context Young adolescents increasingly bully each other in ‘cyberspace’, which has raised a significant amount of academic attention. The present study contributes to this body of research by linking cyberbullying to young people’s offline social relationships. It considers the influence of social position on victimization, and the interactions between online victims and perpetrators. For this purpose an entire grade of 174 pupils, age 12 and 13, was surveyed. The pupil’s social networks were analyzed to predict who is being victimized and by whom adolescents are cyberbullied. Results indicate that victims of cyberbullying have fewer mutual friends at school, regardless of traditional bullying involvement. In contrast, their number of mutual ‘best friends’ does not significantly differ. Furthermore, cyberbullying proves to be a true extension of offline bullying; victims are being bullied by the same perpetrators offline and online, which is particularly problematic. In sum, offline relationships and interactions do influence online bullying.

While seasonal variations in television viewing are well documented, the hypothesis that variations in the weather within seasons may be significantly related to television viewing has seldom been tested. This study relates the official daily meteorological data for Flanders with data on the frequency and density of television viewing. The results provide substantial support for a specific weather effect. They suggest that, under normal conditions, the interaction of seasonal and weather factors constitutes the strongest single explanatory factor with regard to variations in overall levels of TV use, with amounts of explained variance at times reaching 80 percent. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

In this article, we investigated several determinants of bystanders' reactive behaviors when confronted with cyberbullying using self-reported data from 2,333 Flemish 9-16 year olds. Structural equation modeling showed that adolescents that had joined in on the cyberbullying were older, had lower levels of empathy and were more likely to have been involved in cyberbullying or traditional bullying as perpetrators. Adolescents who had helped the victim were younger, had higher levels of empathy and were more likely to have been a victim of cyberbullying or traditional bullying in the past months. Adolescents that did nothing when they witnessed cyberbullying, were also older, showed lower levels of empathy and were less likely to have been a victim of traditional bullying. Social anxiety was not related to joining in, helping and remaining passive. In the second part of the analysis, we found that bystanders' passive behavior could be explained in more detail by moral disengagement theory and other contextual factors. In the discussion, the implications of the findings for research on cyberbullying are addressed.

Research shows that cyberbullying is a common phenomenon amongst youngsters, with potentially severe negative effects. Besides students, parents, schools, and Internet Service Providers, the police have been identified as an important actor in approaches against cyberbullying. Departing from the situation in Belgium, this article describes how the police can: help to prevent cyberbullying, by informing students, parents, and schools about the issue; play a role in the detection of cyberbullying, for instance, by creating online reporting systems (apart from the offline channels) and finally, assist in handling existing cyberbullying cases, by identifying perpetrators and helping victims.

This study explores behavioural determinants of defending behaviour in cyberbullying incidents. Three focus groups were conducted with youngsters aged 12-16 y. Major themes that were found as important behavioural determinants to defend the victim were a low moral disengagement, that the victim is an in-group member and that the bystander is popular. Bystanders preferred to handle cyberbullying offline and in person, and comforting the victim was considered more feasible than facing the bully. With a high peer acceptance of passive bystanding and lack of parental support for defending behaviour, youngsters do not receive much encouragement from their environment to exhibit defending behaviour towards victims. These preliminary results suggest befriending and peer support interventions hold promise, as well as environmental interventions with parents and teachers. These first results will need to be confirmed in more in-depth analyses and in quantitative research.

The public broadcasting remit in the eyes of the audience: survey research into the future role of Flemish public service broadcasting The public broadcasting remit in the eyes of the audience: survey research into the future role of Flemish public service broadcasting In view of the discussion about the future position of public service broadcasting, this research investigates the expectations of Flemings regarding their public service broadcasting institution VRT. Based on the current task description of the VRT, a survey was effectuated among a representative sample of Flemings (N=1565). Questions were asked about the content (broad or complementary to commercial broadcasting), audience (broad or niche) and distinctive nature of public service broadcasting. The analysis shows that, overall, Flemings are in favour of a broad public service broadcasting institution with a strong focus on entertainment (besides information), oriented towards a broad audience. At the same time, they believe the institution should distinguish itself from its competitors, through quality, social responsibility, cultural identity and (particularly creative) innovation, among other things. Cluster analysis shows that the call to prioritize culture and education over entertainment, which dominates public debate, is representative of only a minority (20%) of highly educated Flemings.

Data from 53 focus groups, which involved students from 10 to 18 years old, show that youngsters often interpret “cyberbullying” as “Internet bullying” and associate the phenomenon with a wide range of practices. In order to be considered “true” cyberbullying, these practices must meet several criteria. They should be intended to hurt (by the perpetrator) and perceived as hurtful (by the victim); be part of a repetitive pattern of negative offline or online actions; and be performed in a relationship characterized by a power imbalance (based on “real-life” power criteria, such as physical strength or age, and/or on ICT-related criteria such as technological know-how and anonymity).

This study dealt with the interaction between two important trends in future Western societies, i.e. the greying of society and the technology-induced transformation of everyday life. It aimed at formulating a framework of policy recommendations with regard to the elderly and ICT in 2030. To meet this objective a three-phased methodology was developed, relying on methods of participatory technology assessment and technology foresighting. In the first phase of the project, a literature study, semi-structured expert discussions and focus groups with (future) elderly provided the necessary information for the development of scenarios about the future. In the second phase, these scenarios were transformed into a theatre play, which was performed for elderly audiences. Group discussions with senior participants led to the formulation of the “desired” future with regard to the elderly and ICT. During the last phase of the project—a backcasting exercise—experts and stakeholders from different fields formulated policy recommendations, necessary to achieve this future.

The dominant perspective underlying investigations into the media use of elderly regards 'old age' as a rather separate and problematic life stage, and media use as a coping tool. This rationale was tested in a face-to-face survey about TV viewing motivations and patterns among 284 Flemish elderly. Since the dominant perspective pays little attention to the continuity in people’s lives, and the link between one's personal history and current television use, an additional qualitative study was conducted to explore this 'historical and developmental' dimension of media use. The quantitative results reveal that a subcategory of elderly considers television viewing as a substitute for structuring activities and real life contacts. The semi-structured interviews indicate that past experiences, habits and mores influence this generation's media behavior and that elderly see mass media as part of societal evolutions.

This paper describes the results of a qualitative study into the media use of elderly Flemish people; i. e., 60 years of age or older in 1999. These people witnessed several important historical events, such as World War II, and experienced great societal changes (e. g., in the fields of technology, values and norms). In-depth interviews indicate that the respondents see mass media as part of these evolutions (e. g., the introduction of television in the 1950s), but also as reflectors and instigators of societal change. Furthermore, they demonstrate that - apart from current life circumstances -past experiences, habits and traditions clearly influence this generation's media behavior and evaluation

In this article some core assumptions of the social action approach to media use; i.e., the interactive relationship between people and their environment, the interpretative role of the individual, and the fact that media use can function as a routine activity or as a problem solving action, will be tested in the prison context. We will first pay attention to the transactional' stress model, which emphasizes that stress is a psychological state that is the internal representation of a particular and problematic transaction between a person and his environment. Subsequently, the relationship between stress and media use will be discussed. These general theoretical assumptions are then applied to the (stressful) prison context. Finally, some quantitative and qualitative data with regard to the experienced problems and the media use of prisoners in five Flemish penitentiaries will be presented. These data illustrate that routine media activities soften the chronic 'pains of imprisonment', and that acute prison stress leads to additional coping behaviors.

Online aggression has been examined extensively among early and middle adolescents and performing this behavior has been linked to developmental changes. The same may hold for late adolescents. One of the changes that is typical for this group is the broadening of the social contexts they engage with, both off- and online. A second one, pertains to their life position, including changes in economic security and mobility. The main aim of the present study was to explore the prevalence and acceptability of online aggression in different social contexts among late adolescents, as well as to explore associations with one’s life position. To these aims, data were collected among a university sample (N=189). The results indicate that online aggression is most frequently performed by late adolescents in the school, leisure, and celebrity/influencer context. The results also indicate that this age group seems to accept online aggression the most towards public figures, such as politicians and celebrities/influencers. Finally, the results indicate that different dimensions of one’s life position and frustrations resulting from these are associated with online aggression. Implications, such as the need for (technological) prevention and intervention tools, are discussed.

This article addresses two main sets of questions. First, is there a characteristic social profile of regular game show viewers, and do these viewers constitute a single audience ? Second, is there any evidence that heavy game show viewing cultivates in viewers a greater beliefin the importance of luck in life and a more materialistic outlook ? The results, based on a telephone survey of 246 adult respondents in the Flemish Community of Belgium, provide a clear sociodemographic profile of the European game show audience, at least as constituted in Flanders. Furthermore, this core audience is divided into three distinct segments structured along three characteristic dimensions of game shows. Correlations obtained between game show use and luck and materialism variables, lead us to conclude that cultivation theory may provide a fruitful focus for future research.

A review of the literature reveals that the possibility of lunar influence on various aspects of human health and behavior has long been taken seriously in established scientific journals. The purpose of this article is to extend this perspective to media research by focusing on the relation between lunar cycles and television viewing behavior. In preliminary analyses performed on a data set containing daily television viewing figures and moon and weather information for Flanders in 1993 (over a 12-month period), a weak but significant positive relation between "the amount of television viewing" and "the percentage of the moon illuminated" was found. However, subsequent analyses of a data set containing daily television viewing figures and moon information for Flanders, Denmark, Norway, and The Netherlands in 2002 (over a 12-month period), revealed a weak positive correlation between "television viewing time" and "percentage of the moon surface illuminated" only in Denmark. Given these inconsistent result...