1,720,977 research outputs found
Unplanned reaction or something else? The role of subjective cultures in hazardous and harmful drinking
Full text linkThis study compares the impact of levels of impulsivity and subjective cultures through which subjects interpret their experience of the social environment on the probability of hazardous and harmful alcohol use. A sample of 501 participants from Southern Italy completed a series of questionnaires in order to detect their subjective cultures and levels of impulsiveness (attentional, motor and non-planning). Moreover, alcohol consumption, drinking behavior, alcohol-related problems and adverse reactions during the past year were assessed. A sub-group of hazardous and harmful drinkers (n = 106; 21%) was identified and a healthy control group (n = 127; 25%) was selected. Members of the hazardous and harmful group view the social environment as a significantly more unreliable place, and also scored higher on motor impulsiveness and lower on non-planning impulsiveness. Discussion considers theoretical and clinical implications of the results
Facing life problems through the Internet. The link between psychosocial malaise and problematic Internet use in an adolescent sample
Full text linkIntroduction: Scholars have highlighted the role of negative affect as key correlates of Problematic Internet Use (PIU). According to the assumption that Internet-related behaviours can be seen as mechanisms to cope with everyday life (Kardefelt-Winther, 2017), the present study aims to explore the relation between PIU and psychosocial malaise, expecting that adolescents with high levels of social anxiety, negative emotions, and loneliness are more likely to be associated to the problem group of internet users.
Methods: Measures of PIU (GPIUS-2), social anxiety (IAS, negative affectivity (PANAS), and loneliness (ILS) were detected in a sample of 766 students attending yr. 9 - 11 (13-19 years old; 47% females) of public high schools in the territory of Lecce (Apulia –Italy). A sub-group of problematic internet users was identified (n=185) and a control group was selected (n=187). A logistic regression was applied in order to esteem the effect of psychosocial variables on the differentiation between problematic and control internet users.
Results: Results of the present cross-sectional study show that a higher level of social anxiety, negative emotions, and loneliness increases the probability of belonging to the group of problematic internet users.
Conclusions: The findings show that for a better understanding of PIU onset and maintenance among adolescents, it is important to take into account the life problems which may lead young people to overindulge in internet use
Facing Life Problems Through the Internet. The Link Between Psychosocial Malaise and Problematic Internet Use in an Adolescent Sample
No full textScholars have highlighted the role of negative affect as key correlates of Problematic Internet Use (PIU) According to the assumption that Internet-related behaviours can be seen as mechanisms to cope with everyday life (Kardefelt-Winther, 2017), the present study aims to explore the relation between PIU and psychosocial malaise, expecting that adolescents with high levels of social anxiety, negative emotions, and loneliness are more likely to be associated to the problem group of Internet users. Measures of PIU (GPIUS-2), social anxiety (IAS), negative affectivity (PANAS), and loneliness (ILS) were detected in a sample of 766 students attending Year 9-11 (13-19 years old; 47% females) of public high schools in the territory of Lecce (Apulia-Italy). A sub-group of problematic Internet users was identified (n = 185) and a control group was selected (n = 187). A logistic regression was applied to estimate the effect of psychosocial variables on the differentiation between problematic and control Internet users. Results of the present cross-sectional study show that a higher level of social anxiety, negative emotions, and loneliness increases the probability of belonging to the group of problematic Internet users. No significant differences between males and females were found in GPIU levels. The findings show that, for a better understanding of PIU onset and maintenance among adolescents, it is important, to take into account the life problems which may lead young people to overindulge in Internet use
Mondi online e scenari di pandemia. Il significato della comunicazione online durante il primo lockdown in Italia dovuto a COVID-19
Full text linkOnline worlds and pandemic scenarios. The meaning of online communication during the first lockdown in Italy due to COVID-19. Considering physical distancing as a strategy for contrast COVID-19 and the widespread use of technology as an integral part of daily life, various technological devices have provided a basis for maintaining social connections with friends, family, work and community networks during the lockdown. This work aims to explore the meaning attributed to online communication during the first lockdown in Italy. A sample of adolescents and young adults was selected – as the segment of population most involved in the use of technology – who were asked to respond in a narrative and free way to the stimulus "Being online at the time of Covid-19...". A qualitative multi-judge analysis allowed to identify five categories that organize narratives on online communication: (1) Differences between online and offline communication, (2) instrumental function of online communication, (3) specific tools of online communication, (4) emotions linked to online communication, (5) online communication as disinformation. The reference to communicating online is mainly represented in terms of the need to stay "in touch" in a situation of isolation. The results allow us to recognize different meanings associated with online communication and to develop, in a semiotic and cultural perspective, a broader reflection on the modalities of coexistence in a critical scenario
Subjective cultures of the social environment among problem gamblers, drinkers and internet users
No full textThe cultural context is widely cited as integral to understanding why people engage in behaviour that damages their health. Yet it is rarely the direct object of investigation in the field of addiction behaviour. The current study examines whether the subjective cultures through which subjects interpret the social environment play a role in increasing (or decreasing) the probability of problem gambling, drinking, and internet use.
The questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (ISE) (Mossi & Salvatore 2011) was used in order to detect the subject cultures in a whole sample of 771 participants, recruited in five different contexts (public Health service; Slot-machine room and Bingo center, Undergraduate courses; smoke shops and betting centers, Help Centre for immigrants and the disadvantaged).
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and logistic regressions were used to compare problem (both at risk and dependent) group and control for each of the three kinds of harmful behaviour under analysis on ISE scores of subjective culture.
The problem group of gamblers, drinkers and internet users show they differ from control as concerns the evaluation of the social environment. Whereas control groups tend to express trust in social norms and institutions, problem groups tend to perceive their social environment as lacking in rules, and thus as untrustworthy. Within this interpretative frame, to be "reasonable", to act "responsibly" does not appear a key for a person's social adaptation nor a key to acquire power over events and one’s own future.
The results suggest that the way people interpret their social environment might be a key area for a better understanding of harmful behaviour, with different critical effects on social adjustment; the knowledge of subjective cultures might provide valuable information in the development of healthcare strategies
Cultures and evaluation of health and social risks related to hazardous behaviours
No full textA prominent explanation for people's involvement in harmful behaviour is that they have poor risk-judging skills. However, a number of studies have shown that there is a great variability in morality about the nature of acceptable norms of conduct and lifestyle and that different cultural groups correspond to very heterogeneous risk assessments. The current study evaluates the proposition by proponents of cultural theory that a person's worldview plays a major role in affecting risk evaluation (Boholm, 1998). Particularly, the study tests the hypothesis that subjective cultures in terms of which people interpret their micro and macro social environment affect the magnitude of the risk related to different kinds of hazardous behaviours.
Subjective cultures of the social environment were detected through the questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (Mossi & Salvatore, 2011) among high school students and bachelor degree students from South-East Italy. Respondents were asked to indicate their personal opinion regarding risks related to different kind of behaviours: drug and alcohol use, smoking, smartphone use, driver risk-behaviour, unsafe sexual behaviour, in three domains: health, relationships and social approval. Three Principal Components Analyses (PCA) – one for each of the domains of risk investigated – were applied to the risk ratings expressed by the respondents. Correlation Analysis was applied to analyze the linkage between the components of risk rating extracted and subjective cultures.
The findings show that different cultural views of the social environment relate to different evaluations of the magnitude of risks related to different kinds of hazardous behaviour (i.e. socialized/not socialized; licit/illicit). The subjective cultures might constitute a factor to be taken into account to get a better understanding of the attitude towards hazardous behaviours among adolescents and young adults and to improve healthcare strategies
The social-cultural context of risk evaluation. An exploration of the interplay between cultural models of the social environment and parental control on the risk evaluation expressed by a sample of adolescents
No full textThe objective of this study is to analyse the relationship between adolescent evaluation of health risk behaviours and family practices, while accounting for moderating effects of the cultural models through which adolescents interpret their social environment.
Cultural models, perceived family practices and evaluation of the risk associated to alcohol consumption, drugs use, reckless driving and unprotected sexual behaviours were assessed among 392 adolescents (mean age: 16.88 ± 0.752) recruited in five different Italian high schools of the southern Italy.
The findings show that, beside family dimensions (parental knowledge of children’s activities, parental inquiry about children’s activities, family rules on bed time), a component of adolescents’ cultural model – related to evaluation of the micro-social environment – has a direct effect on risk evaluation, stronger than the other variables; another component – related to the evaluation of the macro-social environment – moderates the role of the family dimensions.
These results suggest the importance of cultural and social dimensions in the intervention programs
PROBLEMATIC INTERNET USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND THE VIEW OF CONTEXT: A PLS-STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL
No full textThe idea of Internet use as a way to face psychosocial malaise is growing in the scientific literature about
Problematic Internet Use (PIU). The present study, assuming the Semiotic Cultural Psycho-social Theory
(SCPT) (Salvatore, 2018) as theoretical framework, postulates and emphasizes that the context in which
the subject is embedded provide the symbolic resources, which ground the way adolescents perceive,
experience, and therefore deal with the material and social world, including the likelihood of using the
Internet as a way to facing life problems and difficulties. SCTP adopts the term “Symbolic Universes”
(SU) to denote affect-laden assumptions concerning the world which may (or not) promote adaptive
responses.
Specifically, the present study aimed to test a mediation model in which each Symbolic Universes
(i.e. independent variable) is associated with the psychosocial malaise in terms of social anxiety,
loneliness, and negative emotions (i.e. mediator variable), which in turn has effects on PIU (i.e. dependent
variable).
Measures of PIU (GPIUS), symbolic universes (VOC), negative affect (PANAS), social anxiety (IAS),
loneliness (ILs) among a total of 764 Southern Italy youths aged from 13 to 19 (mean age =15.05
± 1.152). A Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was firstly run to detect SU; a Partial Least
Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was then performed on R for testing the hypothesized
mediation model.
The results demonstrated that Symbolic Universes characterized by anomie and unreliability of the social
context are associated with adolescents’ PIU though the mediation of social anxiety, loneliness, and
negative emotions.
Overall, findings suggest that within an anomic and unreliable scenario, PIU might acquire the meaning
of a way to face life in an environment that seems meaningless, uncertain, and detrimental. On the plane
of intervention, this points to the need for programs that address social and cultural influences in youths’
Internet use
What Adolescents Have to Say about Problematic Internet Use: A Qualitative Study Based on Focus Groups
Full text linkIn this paper, the study presented is designed to gain a deeper insight into how adolescents describe, understand, and suggest dealing with Problematic Internet Use (PIU). Eight focus groups were activated with a total of 70 students from the 9th and 11th grades (Mean Age = 15.53 ± 1.202; Female = 44.4%) in four different schools in Southern Italy. A Thematic Analysis was applied to the verbatim transcripts, and seven macro-categories were identified throughout the discourses collected: definition of PIU, symptomatology, impact, determinants, intervention strategy, opportunities and limits of the digital world, and needs that adolescents try to satisfy by surfing the net and which the offline world does not fulfill. Participants converge in seeing PIU in terms of addiction but adopt heterogeneous viewpoints in talking about the reasons for problematic engagement and possible preventive intervention strategies. In the overall picture emerging from the responses, PIU appeared to be the outcome of a psychological dynamic emerging from the interaction of individual, interpersonal, and sociocultural dimensions
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