Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 101 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-78). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

[pt] O intenso contato das gerações mais jovens com a internet traz novas demandas para a escola. Como a escola vê seu papel diante desse cenário? A pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar e analisar as representações sociais de diretores e coordenadores pedagógicos acerca do papel da escola nas questões relativas ao cyberbullying, em interação com o discurso midiático. O trabalho de campo foi realizado em duas etapas: na primeira, foram coletados materiais sobre cyberbullying em veículos de comunicação de grande circulação (três jornais, três revistas, duas estações de rádio e dois canais de televisão); na segunda etapa, foram realizadas entrevistas com diretores e coordenadores pedagógicos de dez escolas da rede pública municipal do Rio de Janeiro, localizadas em diferentes bairros, selecionadas aleatoriamente a partir de uma amostra representativa de 40 escolas. O referencial teórico-metodológico adotado é a Teoria das Representações Sociais, de Serge Moscovici, e a Teoria do Núcleo Central, de Jean Claude Abric. O material das duas etapas da pesquisa foi submetido a uma análise de conteúdo com o auxílio do software Atlas TI. Os elementos do núcleo central das representações sociais, comuns aos meios de comunicação e às entrevistas, foram: a relação entre bullying e cyberbullying, internet (mais especificamente, os sites de redes sociais) e o papel da família. O papel da escola foi identificado como um elemento central no discurso dos meios de comunicação, mas não na fala dos gestores escolares. No discurso veiculado nas mídias, a escola é representada como tendo um importante papel a cumprir, na prevenção e no combate ao cyberbullying, mas é vista como omissa e negligente. No discurso dos gestores, é a família que é vista como falha. / [en] The intense contact of the youngest generations with the Internet brings new demands to the school. How does the school see its role in this scenario? The research aims to identify and to analyze the social representations of the role of school in cyberbullying-related issues, from the speech of directors and/or pedagogical coordinators, and in the interaction between the school discourse and the media discourse. The field research was conducted in two stages: in the first one, cyberbullying materials were collected in mass media (three newspapers, three magazines, two radio stations and two television channels); in the second stage, interviews were carried out with directors and pedagogical coordinators of ten public schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro, located in different neighborhoods, randomly selected from a representative sample of 40 schools. The theoretical and methodological framework adopted is the Social Representations Theory, proposed by Serge Moscovici, and the Central Nucleus Theory, elaborated by Jean Claude Abric. The material of the two stages of the research was submitted to an analysis of content with the aid of Atlas TI software. The elements of the central nucleus of the social representations, common to the media and the interviews, were the relation between bullying and cyberbullying, Internet (more specifically, the social networking sites), and the role of the family. The role of school was identified as a central element in the media discourse, but not in the speech of the school managers. In the media discourse, school is represented as having an important role to play in preventing and combating cyberbullying, but it is seen as omissive and negligent. In the discourse of the managers, it is the family that is seen as neglectful.

<p>Interactive media technologies like the Internet and video games have opened new avenues of opportunity for many, yet at the same time they represent new challenges and risks, especially for young people.</p><p>In our study, eleven families were interviewed. Their perceptions, experiences and risk management are described in this paper. The children we interviewed were not high media consumers. The vast majority appeared to have a positive attitude towards the Internet, and had learned to handle common interactive media challenges and risk. Nonetheless some online behaviors which we consider risky were indeed commonly practiced. The most commonly encountered risk experienced by children in our study was exposure to undesirable content. Yet, in a group of eleven children two had been victim of cyberbullying and one had been harassed by some classmate or family member.</p><p>The most recurrent negative comments parents made about the internet or video games and children were about the danger of being contacted by strangers, as well as the excessive use of the interactive media technologies.</p><p><strong><p> </p></strong></p>

Interactive media technologies like the Internet and video games have opened new avenues of opportunity for many, yet at the same time they represent new challenges and risks, especially for young people. In our study, eleven families were interviewed. Their perceptions, experiences and risk management are described in this paper. The children we interviewed were not high media consumers. The vast majority appeared to have a positive attitude towards the Internet, and had learned to handle common interactive media challenges and risk. Nonetheless some online behaviors which we consider risky were indeed commonly practiced. The most commonly encountered risk experienced by children in our study was exposure to undesirable content. Yet, in a group of eleven children two had been victim of cyberbullying and one had been harassed by some classmate or family member. The most recurrent negative comments parents made about the internet or video games and children were about the danger of being contacted by strangers, as well as the excessive use of the interactive media technologies.

Children and adolescents are now using online communication to form and/or maintain relationships with strangers and/or friends. Relationships in real life are important for children and adolescents in identity formation and general development. However, social relationships can be difficult for those who experience feelings of loneliness and social anxiety. The current study aimed to replicate and extend research conducted by Valkenburg and Peter (2007b), by investigating differences in online communication patterns between children and adolescents with and without selfreported loneliness and social anxiety. Six hundred and twenty-six students aged 10-16 years completed a questionnaire survey about the amount of time they engaged in online communication, the topics they discussed, who they communicated with, and their purposes of online communication. Following Valkenburg and Peter (2007b), loneliness was measured with a shortened version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3) developed by Russell (1996), whereas social anxiety was assessed with a sub-scale of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (La Greca & Lopez, 1998). The sample was divided into four groups of children and adolescents: 220 were “non-socially anxious and non-lonely”, 139 were “socially anxious but not lonely”, 107 were “lonely but not socially anxious”, and 159 were “lonely and socially anxious”. A one-way ANOVA and chi-square tests were conducted to evaluate the aforementioned differences between these groups. The results indicated that children and adolescents who reported being lonely used online communication differently from those who did not report being lonely. Essentially, the former communicated online more frequently about personal things and intimate topics, but also to compensate for their weak social skills and to meet new people. Further analyses on gender differences within lonely children and adolescents revealed that boys and girls communicated online more frequently with different partners. It was concluded that for these vulnerable individuals online communication may fulfil needs of self-disclosure, identity exploration, and social interactions. However, future longitudinal studies combining a quantitative with a qualitative approach would better address the relationship between Internet use and psychosocial well-being. The findings also suggested the need for further exploration of how such troubled children and adolescents can use the Internet beneficially.