Poster #243 - Victimization Correlates of Active and Passive Online Behavior among Early Adolescents

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Technology, Media & Child Development

Integrative Statement

Having an online presence has become a critical part of adolescent social development; however, all online behavior is not identical. Actively curating one’s own social media content (e.g., posting status updates) may have different mechanisms than passively consuming content posted by others (e.g., browsing social media feeds; Frisson & Eggermont, 2016). More specifically, actively posting online may leave the individual vulnerable to experiencing negative feedback from peers (e.g., peer victimization), while passively viewing peers’ social media may result in self-comparison and subsequent internalizing (e.g., loneliness, depression, Underwood & Ehrenreich, 2017). However; research has yet to consider whether different forms of online behavior are associated with peer victimization among early adolescents.
Participants were 127 students in grades 6-8 at a public middle-school (64.6% female, Mage=13.11, 68.5% Caucasian) in the northeastern US. Data were collected via group survey sessions during students’ health classes at the end of Spring semester. Online and in-person overt and social victimization in the past 3 months were measured: overt (3 items, e.g., “threatened to fight you”; αonline=.66, αin person=.69) and social (3 items, e.g., “excluded you from a group”; αonline=.86, αin-person=.80). Loneliness (5 items; e.g., I feel lonely; α=.834), active online behavior (AOB; 5 items e.g., “posted on your own social media apps”; α=.61), and passive online behavior (POB; 6 items; e.g., “visited a friend’s social media page”; α=.79) were also measured.
Five separate linear regression analyses were conducted. All models contained both AOB and POB to control for high overlap (r=.82), gender, age, race, and hours/day spent on social media. Outcome variables were online and in-person overt and social peer victimization and loneliness. Regression coefficients are reported in Table 1. Neither AOB nor POB significantly predicted online overt victimization or loneliness. AOB was not associated with in-person overt victimization, but there was a marginal positive trend of POB predicting in-person overt victimization (p=.053). AOB positively predicted online social victimization, there was a marginal negative trend of POB predicting online social victimization (p=.98). POB positively predicted in-person social victimization; there was no association between AOB and in-person social victimization.
Our findings support previous research suggesting that AOB and POB have some distinct correlates of victimization for early adolescents. AOB was associated with online social victimization. Posting content on social media may provide ammunition for perpetrators (e.g., spreading rumors, gossiping); however, these online interactions may not carry over into adolescents’ offline lives. POB was positively associated with in-person overt and social victimization. Passively browsing social media is associated with characteristics such as low self-esteem and high social anxiety (Wang et al., 2017); which may heighten risk for in-person victimization. Neither form of online behavior was associated with loneliness; however, other forms of internalizing should also be considered (i.e., depression; Underwood & Ehrenreich, 2017). Overall, AOB and POB did not differ much for overt victimization and loneliness; perhaps the social nature of online behavior is more relevant in adolescents’ experiences with social victimization. Future research should continue to examine the differential effects of AOB and POB on adolescent well-being.


 

Authors

• Jill Swirsky, Temple University
  Presenting Author

• Michelle Rosie, Temple University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shaylyne Nolan, Temple University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hongling Xie, Temple University
  Non-Presenting Author