Exploring text messaging as a platform for peer socialization of social aggression

The Role of Parental and Adolescent Psychosocial Factors in Different Aggression Profiles: A Comparative Approach

Background: This study explores parental dysregulation when associated with adolescents' involvement in street fights with peers. Parental dysregulation, characterized by emotional volatility, impulsivity, and inconsistent discipline, significantly affects adolescent development, influencing their social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Street fights, which involve physical violence among adolescents in public settings, pose risks to both individuals and the community. This research aims to identify risk factors and underlying mechanisms associated with adolescent street fights, providing insights for targeted interventions and prevention strategies. Aim: The study employs social learning theory to explain how adolescents may model aggressive behaviors observed in dysregulated parents and family systems theory to highlight the role of dysfunctional family dynamics in being associated with aggression. A sample of 292 male adolescents and their parents was assessed using self-report measures. Results: Statistical analyses revealed higher levels of emotional dysregulation, depression, and hostility among parents of adolescents frequently involved in street fights. Conclusions: These findings underscore the need for interventions focusing on improving parental emotional regulation, reducing hostile behaviors, and enhancing family communication to mitigate adolescent aggression. Further research should explore diverse populations and longitudinal data to strengthen these conclusions.

Were You Joking? Interpreting and Responding to Hostile Messages Among Spanish Adolescents

This study aims to investigate whether the socio-emotional contextualization of envy influences the interpretation of and reaction to hostile messages on WhatsApp among Spanish adolescents. A total of 190 high school students participated. Participants read two stories containing a hostile message. In one condition, the hostile message preceded by a situation of envy, in the other it was not. We asked participants to attribute emotions and rate whether the message was offensive or funny, the intention of the message, and the relative status of the characters. The results showed that participants identified shame and sadness in the victim, but girls were better than boys at identifying envy in the aggressor. In addition, more girls disapproved of the hostile message than boys in the envy condition. On the other hand, girls perceived the hostile message as more offensive and understood it as teasing, whereas boys interpreted it as funnier and understood it as a joke. Finally, participants understood that the aggressor felt more inferior to his victim in the envy situation than in the non-envy situation. The discussion addresses the implications of these findings for the socio-emotional contextualization of cyber aggression and highlights the importance of evaluating hostile messages, presumably more prevalent during adolescence than other types of cyber aggression.

Developmental Associations Between Media Use and Adolescent Prosocial Behavior

Youth today spend a tremendous amount of time with digital media. The purpose of the present study was to estimate developmental associations between screen media use between the ages of 15 and 17 and corresponding changes in prosocial behavior. Participants (N = 1,509) were part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, a population-based study of children born in the province of Quebec, Canada. Youth self-reported internet and video game use and television or movies/DVD viewing, as well as prosocial behavior at the ages of 15 and 17. Analyses were conducted using multilevel linear modelling to account for between-, within-, and lagged-person effects. Internet and video game use accounted for less prosocial behavior at the within-person and lagged-person levels. Television use also accounted for lagged-person effects in prosocial behavior. Finally, internet use and television viewing contributed to between person differences in prosocial behavior. Our study presents strong statistical evidence that media use during adolescence can undermine the development of prosocial behavior.

Frequency of Text Messaging and Adolescents' Mental Health Symptoms Across 4 Years of High School

PURPOSE

The aim of the study was to examine the concurrent and longitudinal associations between adolescents' text messaging frequency and mental health symptoms across 4 years of high school.

METHODS

A total of 203 adolescents (aged 14-18 years) consented and were provided smartphones across 4 years of high school. Using billing records, daily frequencies of text messaging were created for each year. Adolescents reported on their mental health symptoms (internalizing, externalizing, social problems, and inattention) each summer.

RESULTS

Multilevel analyses tested the between- and within-person associations between texting and mental health symptoms. Between-person analyses revealed an association only between externalizing symptoms and texting. Girls who texted more (vs. less) frequently reported more externalizing and inattention symptoms, whereas there were no significant associations for boys. There were no significant within-person concurrent associations between texting and symptoms. Autoregressive latent cross-lagged model with structured residuals testing the longitudinal, bidirectional associations also did not find significant relations across 4 years of adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS

Across analyses, few robust associations emerged. Adolescent girls who text messaged more frequently reported greater externalizing and inattention symptoms. Contrasting the popular narrative that smartphones cause depression, this study did not find any consistent within-person or longitudinal associations between texting and mental health symptoms across adolescence. Research on the content, rather than quantity, of texts and device use is necessary to understand the potential effects on development.