In a society where adolescent technology use is a dominant presence, the potential for adolescent cyberbullying has increased. It has become a phenomenon that warrants research attention. In North America, adolescent cyberbullying research is still in the exploratory stages. Current North American research has focused on younger populations (Beran & Li, 2005; Cochrane, 2008; Li, 2005; 2006; 2007; Patchin & Hinduja, 2006). However, adolescence is a period of dramatic change that encompasses all areas of development (Arnett, 2004; Berk, 2004; Hinduja & Patchin, 2008). These factors form the basis and motivations for this research. This study explored adolescent cyberbullying in Canada with the hope of providing preliminary research attention on a serious issue. Specifically, this study explored the following questions:<p> 1. What was the extent of cyberbullying among grade ten, eleven and twelve students in urban Saskatchewan?<p> 2. What was the relationship between traditional bullying and cyberbullying?<p> 3. What did the experiences of cyberbullying look like (both as a perpetrator and as a victim)? How were the victims impacted?<p> 4. How did individuals respond to cyberbullying (as a bystander)?<p> 5. What were the students opinions on adult responses to cyberbullying?<p> Answering these questions were 476 students from one large Catholic and two large public high schools in urban Saskatchewan. Students from grade 10 and, primarily, grades 11 and 12 anonymously completed a paper-pencil questionnaire. Of these students, 44.0% disclosed they had been a victim of cyberbullying and 31.3% reported they had been a cyberbully. Two-thirds (64.5%) also admitted knowing at least one individual who had been a victim of cyberbullying. Students shared a range of negative emotions and effects that they experienced as a result of being a victim of cyberbullying. The most commonly reported were anger and sadness or hurt. Overall, significant differences in students experiences with cyberbullying were found between gender, grade levels, and among levels of achievement.<p> Two-thirds (66.2%) of students also admitted telling at least one person that they had been a victim of cyberbullying. Students most often told a friend (53.8%) over telling anyone else. This was reflected in students overwhelming perception that adults (e.g., parents or teachers) could not prevent cyberbullying or successfully intervene when it was occurring. Students did offer ideas on possible ways of intervening or preventing cyberbullying that ranged from increased education to effective consequences.

Alkohol är ett vanligt berusningsmedel i Sverige. Tidigare forskning har visat att familj och vänner påverkar ungdomars alkoholkonsumtion. Studiens syfte var att undersöka ungdomars upplevelse av vad som påverkade deras alkoholkonsumtion samt om skillnader fanns mellan landsbygd och stad. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten i undersökningen var Bronfenbrenners ekologiska modell. Metoden som användes var berättelser där ungdomar skrev om en situation där de druckit alkohol eller avstått samt öppna enkätfrågor. Deltagarna kom från två gymnasieskolor och var i åldrarna 15-20 år. Totalt 96 personer medverkade varav 68 tjejer. Resultatet visade att fest, vänner, eget beslut och resor var de faktorer som påverkade mest. På landsbygden påverkades ungdomarna mer av familj och släkt. I staden upplevde många det som jobbigt att vara ensam om att vara nykter. De vanligaste orsakerna att avstå från alkohol var dåliga erfarenheter, inget behov och roligt utan. Överlag hade ungdomar på landsbygden en mer avslappnad syn till alkoholkonsumtionen.

Adolescent obesity is an important public health issue, and one important factor that contributes to the problem is overeating, eating more than required for homeostasis. Appetitive behaviors such as overeating may in part be the result of poor control of impulsive behavior. This study investigated the relationship between impulsivity factors and snacking habits. The Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire (YAQ) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) were completed by 198 Southern California high school students (56% female; age M=15.8, SD=0.9). Four subscales were calculated from responses on the YAQ and included the frequency of consuming sweetened drinks, sweet snacks, salty snacks, and fresh fruits. Multiple regression was used to determine the association of the YAQ subscales with the six first-order impulsivity factors in the BIS after adjusting for age, gender, and SES (mother and father education). Self-control impulsivity was positively associated with salty snack consumption. Both sweet snacks and drinks had a positive correlation with cognitive complexity. Finally, perseverance had a positive association with sweet snacks. Fruit consumption had no association with impulsivity levels. This is the first study of which we are aware that examined the association between snacking behaviors and the first-order factors for impulsivity in the BIS. It is beneficial to understand the processes behind snacking decisions so we can intervene to help adolescents make better food choices. Snacking is likely to be under the control of the adolescent compared, for example, to meals prepared at home by a parent or guardian. As a result, targeting snacking habits with interventions among adolescents may be an effective approach to reducing obesity.

The dramatic increase in the masculine practice of tattooing among girls in Western societies is an area of interest for feminist researchers and visual culture educators. Girls’ tattoos are perceived as diverse practices of conformity, resistance, reclamation, and empowerment, and/or as contemporary markers of femininity, sexuality, and desire. Eleven adolescent girls with tattoos from the Central Okanagan region of British Columbia were interviewed during a 12 month period in 2007/2008. Discourse analysis was employed as a method to interpret and deconstruct girls’ narratives with respect to understanding why girls have adopted traditional Western male practices of tattooing as expressions of individuality or identity. Secondly, responses were examined with respect to girls’ knowledge of potential risks involved with tattooing. The majority of participants had strong attachments to their relatives and their tattoos signified a desire to maintain that close family relationship. Research findings indicated girls’ mothers were influential in their daughters’ decisions to get tattooed and in the type of image tattooed. Girls were adamant that popular media figures with tattoos and advertisements of models with tattoos could influence or encourage girls to engage in body art. Knowledge of potential risks was learned primarily from tattoo artists and relatives, with infection indicated as the main associated risk. Participants suggested the distribution of pamphlets in school counseling centres could inform students of potential risks and provide information related to safe body art practices. Participants believed societal norms respecting girls’ behaviors and practices were different than those experienced by their mothers. However size, placement, and image of their tattoos, their own biases, and their experiences with older relatives including grandmothers and some fathers indicate that traditional Western attitudes regarding femininity and the female body continue. In spite of this, girls believe that they have the freedom to choose how they enact femininity and assert their individuality, and they believe “if guys can do it, so can girls”. As visual culture educators we need to listen to and respect the voices of girls to achieve a greater understanding of how girls experience and perform gender through their everyday practices within the popular visual culture.

Perceived stress and stress-related illness as symptoms of burnout have increased in adolescents. The aim of the present study was to investigate if mindfulness, global- and competence-based self-esteem are potential predictors for perceived stress and symptoms of burnout in adolescents. 143 upper secondary students participated in the study. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that higher levels of mindfulness and global-self-esteem were associated with decreased levels of perceived stress and symptoms of burnout. Competence-based self-esteem was only trend-significant associated with symptoms of burnout. Mediation analysis revealed that global self-esteem was a fully mediator for the relationship between competence-based self-esteem and perceived stress. The results were discussed in terms of the importance of individual factors, such as, mindfulness and self-esteem to predict perceived stress and symptoms of burnout.

No description available.

L’actual era digital ofereix nous escenaris de consum mediàtic i nous punts de trobada entre els productes audiovisuals i les seves audiències, ja que tant els uns com les altres estan influïts per l’anomenada revolució digital. És dins d’aquest marc contextual complex que s’ha d’analitzar el consum adolescent de la ficció seriada televisiva. L’objecte d’estudi de la present tesi, que és el fruit d’una anàlisi de la recepció juvenil de la ficció seriada televisiva, està delimitat per la relació de consum que s’estableix entre dos objectes materials: els adolescents, considerats com una particular audiència mediàtica, i la ficció seriada televisiva, analitzada en relació amb el macrogènere televisiu Ficció. Per tant, en primer lloc es contextualitzen i es conceptualitzen els dos objectes materials de l’estudi (capítol 1). Per un costat s’entén l’adolescència com a procés psicosocial del creixement humà caracteritzat per canvis de diversa natura (físics, psicològics i socials, entre d’altres), que marca el pas de la infància a l’adultesa i que depèn i varia en funció de l’entorn que envolta els individus. Per l’altre costat, es descriu la ficció seriada dins el macrogènere televisiu Ficció, entès segons la tipologia de l’observatori Euromonitor. Se’n destaquen en particular aquells productes específicament dirigits a l’audiència juvenil, és a dir les teen series, per la convicció que es tracta de productes particularment atractius per als adolescents. L’estudi de recepció de la tesi s’insereix dins un marc teòric propi dels Cultural studies i, en particular, dels Audience studies (capítol 2). Per aquesta raó es poden destacar alguns conceptes clau, com ara l’activitat de les audiències, la importància de la situació del visionament i els usos que les audiències fan dels mitjans de comunicació. En el plantejament de l’estudi s’ha intentat respondre a la necessitat, evidenciada per molts investigadors, d’adaptar les metodologies i les tècniques d’investigació a les noves generacions (capítol 3). Per aquesta raó s’ha triat analitzar el consum juvenil de ficció seriada televisiva en relació amb la dieta mediàtica i d’esbarjo dels adolescents. A més, en la implementació de les tècniques emprades (enquesta mitjançant qüestionari i grups de discussió), s’ha recorregut a l’ús de les noves tecnologies mediàtiques. Els resultats obtinguts de l’encreuament de les dades procedents de les dues tècniques emprades estan en línia amb els principals antecedents analitzats, confirmant l’existència de certes similituds entre els joves de la mostra i altres grups investigats en d’altres estudis. En particular, s’han organitzat els resultats segons tres grans àrees temàtiques: dieta d’esbarjo i mediàtica dels adolescents; consum televisiu; consum juvenil específic de ficció seriada televisiva (capítol 4). Finalment, d’aquesta tesi emergeixen alguns elements significatius que permeten d’aprofundir uns aspectes específics del consum juvenil de ficció seriada televisiva. Entre aquests elements, que són discutits en les conclusions de l’estudi (capítol 5), es destaquen en particular: els avantatges que els adolescents reconeixen als diversos suports mediàtics emprats per consumir ficció seriada; les demandes dels joves sobre els continguts de ficció seriada que troben a faltar; les funcions socials desenvolupades per la ficció seriada en la vida dels joves; el consum adolescent específic de teen series. / The current digital era offers new scenarios of media consumption and new meeting points between media products and their audiences. In fact, both elements are influenced by the so-called digital revolution. The teens’ consumption of television serialized fiction has to be analyzed within this complex contextual framework. This thesis is the result of a reception analysis about young people’s consumption of television serialized fiction. Its object of study is demarcated by the consumption relationship that is established between two material objects: the adolescents, considered as a particular media audience, and the television serialized fiction, analyzed in relation to the television macrogenre Fiction. First, these two material objects are contextualized and conceptualized (chapter 1). On one hand, adolescence is considered as a psychosocial process of human growth, characterized by changes of different nature (physical, psychological or social ones, i.e.). This process marks the passage between childhood and adulthood, depending and varying according to the environment that surrounds the individuals. On the other hand, the television serialized fiction is described within the television macrogenre Fiction, as defined by Euromonitor Observatory. In particular, the study stresses the importance of teen series, which are those television fictional products specifically targeted at a young audience, because of the idea that they can be particularly appealing to teenagers. This reception study belongs to a framework typical of Cultural studies and, particularly, of Audience studies (chapter 2). For this reason it is possible to emphasize several key concepts, as well as audiences’ activity, the importance of the consumption situation or the uses that audiences make of mass media. The whole planning of the study has tried to answer to the need, underlined by several authors, of adapting the research methods and techniques to the new generations (chapter 3). For this reason it has been decided to analyze young people’s consumption of television serialized fiction in relation to adolescents’ media and free time diet. Besides, even in the implementation of the analysis techniques (survey through questionnaire and focus groups), new media technologies have been used. The main results of the study, obtained through crossing the data of both techniques, are in line with the main previous studies analyzed. This fact confirms the existence of several similarities between the adolescents of this sample and other groups studied in previous researches. In particular, the results have been divided into three thematic areas: adolescents’ free time and media diet; television consumption; young people’s consumption of television serialized fiction (chapter 4). Finally, this thesis enlightens some interesting elements that permit to study in depth several aspects of young people’s consumption of television serialized fiction. Among these elements, which are discussed in the conclusions of the study (chapter 5), the following ones can be pointed out: the advantages that adolescents assign to the different media used to watch serialized fiction; the adolescents’ claims for some fiction contents that are not available; the social functions of serialized fiction in young people’s life; the specific adolescent consumption of teen series.

INTRODUCTION: HIV disproportionately affects African Americans, Latinos, and gay and bisexual men of all racial and ethnicity groups. People living with HIV/AIDS experience stigma related to their disease. HIV/AIDS stigma can have detrimental effects on HIV prevention, testing and treatment. Entertainment-education is a health communication strategy that can be used to influence behavioral and social change in the population. AIM: The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether a Motion Comic intervention, an EE strategy, can decrease H/A stigma in a sample of MSM adolescents aged 15-24. METHODS: Participants were recruited from GA, FL, NY and CA using convenience sampling. A sample of MSM adolescents aged 15-24 (n=24) was used for this study. The study design is a one-group pretest-posttest intervention. Participants were shown the Motion Comic episodes. Participants completed pre- and post-viewing surveys to assess HIV/AIDS stigma. A summed variable was used as the outcome for total HIV/AIDS stigma. A paired samples t-test was used to measure a statistically significant difference in HIV/AIDS stigma from pretest to posttest. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease in HIV stigma from pre-viewing survey (M = 9.87, SD = 3.49) to post-viewing survey (M = 8.65, SD = 2.48), t (22) = 2.01, p < .0285 (one-tailed). The mean decrease in HIV stigma scores was 1.22 with a 95% confidence interval ranging from 0.177 to 2.248. The eta squared statistic (.16) indicated a large effect size. DISCUSSION: Results from this study show that viewing the Motion Comic may reduce HIV/AIDS stigma related to casual transmission of HIV and values, such as blame, shame and judgment, in MSM adolescents.

In this study I investigated the community establishment and utilization of mental health services among refugee adolescents who received resident permit in Sweden in 2010. I compared a group of 20 adolescents –boys and girls- mainly from Afghanistan and Somalia, living in small residential care by the Social service management in Stockholm – Socialförvaltningen (SF) - with a group of 10 adolescents from the same countries, living in family homes. The study showed clear differences in adolescents´ adaptation processes. Those who were living in small residential care by SF had a better chance to adapt quickly into their new society compared with the other group. The study showed that refugee adolescents from both groups underutilized mental health services.

The present research involved two studies that considered ecology-centered experiences (i.e., experiences with living things) as a factor in children’s environmental attitudes and behaviors and adolescents’ ecological understanding. The first study (Study 1) examined how a community garden provides children in an urban setting the opportunity to learn about ecology through ecology-centered experiences. To do this, I carried out a yearlong ethnographic study at an urban community garden located in a large city in the Southeastern United States. Through participant observations and informal interviews of community garden staff and participants, I found children had opportunities to learn about ecology through ecology-centered experiences (e.g., interaction with animals) along with other experiences (e.g., playing games, reading books). In light of previous research that shows urban children have diminished ecological thought—a pattern of thought that privileges the relationship between living things—because of their lack of ecology-centered experiences (Coley, 2012), the present study may have implications for urban children to learn about ecology. As an extension of Study 1, I carried out a second study (Study 2) to investigate how ecology-centered experiences contribute to adolescents’ environmental attitudes and behaviors in light of other contextual factors, namely environmental responsibility support, ecological thought, age and gender. Study 2 addressed three research questions. First, does ecological thought—a pattern of thought that privileges the relationship between living things—predict environmental attitudes and behaviors (EAB)? Results showed ecological thought did not predict EAB, an important finding considering the latent assumptions of previous research about the relationship between these two factors (e.g., Brugger, Kaiser, & Roczen, 2011). Second, do two types of contextual support, ecology-centered experiences (i.e., experiences with living things) and environmental responsibility support (i.e., support through the availability of environmentally responsible models) predict EAB? As predicted, results showed that ecology-centered experiences predicted EAB; yet, when environmental responsibility support was taken into consideration, ecology-centered experiences no longer predicted EAB. These findings suggested environmental responsibility support was a stronger predictor than ecology-centered experiences. Finally, do age and gender predict EAB? Consistent with previous research (e.g., Alp, Ertepiner, Tekkaya, & Yilmaz, 2006), age and gender significantly predicted EAB.