Adolescents' comments in social media: Why do adolescents receive negative feedback and who is most at risk?

We investigate which adolescents receive negative peer feedback in social media.Risky online behavior increased the risk of receiving negative feedback.Risky behavior was predicted by higher age, sensation seeking, and family conflict.These characteristics lead to negative feedback through risky online behavior.So, adolescents' characteristics indirectly predicted receiving negative feedback. Receiving negative peer feedback in social media may have negative consequences for adolescents' psychosocial development and well-being. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to investigate online behavior (i.e., online social exploration, risky online self-presentation) that predicts receiving negative online peer feedback. The second aim was to examine three types of precursors that may predict this online behavior and, indirectly, negative feedback: (a) developmental (i.e., sex, age), (b) dispositional (i.e., sensation seeking, inhibitory control), and (c) social precursors (i.e., peer problems, family conflict). We collected survey data among 785 Dutch adolescents (10-15years old). Our results showed that adolescents who engaged in online social exploration and risky online self-presentation more often, were more likely to receive negative peer feedback. Online social exploration was more prevalent among the older adolescents and adolescents characterized by higher sensation seeking and more family conflict. In addition, risky online self-presentation was more prevalent among adolescents high in sensation seeking. Consequently, these adolescents' online behavior, indirectly, made them more at risk of receiving negative peer feedback in social media.

[1]  Michele L. Ybarra,et al.  The co-occurrence of Internet harassment and unwanted sexual solicitation victimization and perpetration: associations with psychosocial indicators. , 2007, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[2]  P. Greenfield,et al.  Self-Presentation and Gender on MySpace. , 2008 .

[3]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Online communication among adolescents: an integrated model of its attraction, opportunities, and risks. , 2011, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[4]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Friend Networking Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents' Well-Being and Social Self-Esteem , 2006, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[5]  Mariëtte Huizinga,et al.  Age-Related Changes in Executive Function: A Normative Study with the Dutch Version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) , 2010, Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence.

[6]  J. Suler.  The Online Disinhibition Effect , 2004, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

[7]  Wade C. Jacobsen,et al.  The Wired Generation: Academic and Social Outcomes of Electronic Media Use Among University Students , 2011, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[8]  Lucrezia Crescenzi,et al.  Privacy, self-disclosure and self-image of Spanish teenagers on social networking sites. The case of Fotolog , 2013 .

[9]  Joël Billieux,et al.  Which psychological factors influence Internet addiction? Evidence through an integrative model , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[10]  S. Kiesler,et al.  EFFECTS OF INTERNET USE AND SOCIAL RESOURCES ON CHANGES IN DEPRESSION , 2008 .

[11]  Susanne E. Baumgartner,et al.  Identifying Teens at Risk: Developmental Pathways of Online and Offline Sexual Risk Behavior , 2012, Pediatrics.

[12]  L. Finley.  Teachers' Perceptions of School Violence Issues , 2003 .

[13]  Robert A Zucker,et al.  Poor response inhibition as a predictor of problem drinking and illicit drug use in adolescents at risk for alcoholism and other substance use disorders. , 2006, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[14]  Jochen Peter,et al.  Exploring Associations Between Exposure to Sexy Online Self-Presentations and Adolescents’ Sexual Attitudes and Behavior , 2015, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[15]  J. Wolak,et al.  Escaping or connecting? Characteristics of youth who form close online relationships. , 2003, Journal of adolescence.

[16]  J. Parker,et al.  Forming, losing, renewing, and replacing friendships: Applying temporal parameters to the assessment of children's friendship experiences. , 1996 .

[17]  Rich Gilman,et al.  Electronic and School-Based Victimization: Unique Contexts for Adjustment Difficulties During Adolescence , 2011, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[18]  Q. Lu,et al.  Impulse inhibition in people with Internet addiction disorder: Electrophysiological evidence from a Go/NoGo study , 2010, Neuroscience Letters.

[19]  Tanvir Singh,et al.  Cyberbullying: A review of the literature , 2017 .

[20]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model , 2013, The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology.

[21]  Luigi Bonetti,et al.  The Relationship of Loneliness and Social Anxiety with Children's and Adolescents' Online Communication , 2010, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[22]  Chris Fullwood,et al.  Individual Differences as Predictors of Social Networking , 2014, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[23]  David Elkind,et al.  Imaginary Audience Behavior in Children and Adolescents. , 1979 .

[24]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Adolescents’ identity experiments on the internet , 2005 .

[25]  Robert S. Tokunaga,et al.  Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization , 2010, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[26]  L. Steinberg.  Cognitive and affective development in adolescence , 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[27]  Gustavo S. Mesch.  Parental Mediation, Online Activities, and Cyberbullying , 2009, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[28]  H J Eysenck,et al.  Sensation seeking in England and America: cross-cultural, age, and sex comparisons. , 1978, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[29]  Chin-Chung Tsai,et al.  Sensation seeking and internet dependence of Taiwanese high school adolescents , 2000, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[30]  L. Arseneault,et al.  Impulsivity predicts problem gambling in low SES adolescent males. , 1999, Addiction.

[31]  A. Siibak.  Constructing the Self through the Photo selection - Visual Impression Management on Social Networking Websites , 2009 .

[32]  Urs Gasser,et al.  Teens, social media, and privacy , 2013 .

[33]  Sara Kiesler,et al.  Effects of Internet Use on Health and Depression: A Longitudinal Study , 2010, Journal of medical Internet research.

[34]  D. Boyd.  Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life , 2007 .

[35]  Sara Kiesler,et al.  Social psychological aspects of computer-mediated communication , 1984 .

[36]  G. Gioia,et al.  TEST REVIEW Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function , 2000 .

[37]  P. Valkenburg,et al.  Consequences for Social Competence and Self-Concept Unity , 2008 .

[38]  J. Walther.  Computer-Mediated Communication , 1996 .

[39]  R. Goodman,et al.  Psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. , 2001, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[40]  L. Foster,et al.  ADHD and the Nature of Self-Control. , 2000 .

[41]  E. Vandewater,et al.  Family Conflict and Violent Electronic Media Use in School-Aged Children , 2005 .

[42]  J. Arnett.  Sensation seeking: A new conceptualization and a new scale , 1994 .

[43]  F. Cao,et al.  The relationship between impulsivity and Internet addiction in a sample of Chinese adolescents , 2007, European Psychiatry.

[44]  S. Moss,et al.  The Adolescent Risk-Taking Questionnaire , 2000 .

[45]  Androniki Kavoura,et al.  Cyberbullying: A Review of the Literature on Harassment Through the Internet and Other Electronic Means , 2010, Family & community health.

[46]  M. Berson,et al.  Emerging Risks of Violence in the Digital Age , 2002 .

[47]  Joshua H. West,et al.  Female Self-Sexualization in MySpace.com Personal Profile Photographs , 2012 .

[48]  Ellen Helsper,et al.  Taking risks when communicating on the Internet: the role of offline social-psychological factors in young people's vulnerability to online risks , 2007 .

[49]  L. Steinberg.  Risk Taking in Adolescence: What Changes, and Why? , 2004, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[50]  J. Arnett.  Sensation seeking, aggressiveness, and adolescent reckless behavior. , 1996 .

[51]  B. Bushman,et al.  I like me if you like me: on the interpersonal modulation and regulation of preadolescents' state self-esteem. , 2010, Child development.

[52]  Stéphanie Laconi,et al.  Psychopathological profiles of adolescent and young adult problematic Facebook users , 2015, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[53]  R. Hoyle,et al.  Reliability and validity of a brief measure of sensation seeking , 2002 .

[54]  V. Donoso,et al.  Identity under Construction , 2010, The Color of Liberty.

[55]  Gustavo S. Mesch,et al.  Parental mediation, peer norms and risky online behavior among adolescents , 2014, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[56]  Jakob D. Jensen,et al.  Developing a Brief Sensation Seeking Scale for Children: Establishing Concurrent Validity With Video Game Use and Rule-Breaking Behavior , 2011 .

[57]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  The Influence of Descriptive and Injunctive Peer Norms on Adolescents' Risky Sexual Online Behavior , 2011, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[58]  Hung-Yi Lu,et al.  Sensation-Seeking, Internet Dependency, and Online Interpersonal Deception , 2008, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[59]  Russell A. Barkley,et al.  Response inhibition in attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder , 1999 .

[60]  Nancy J. Bell,et al.  Adolescent risk taking , 1993 .

[61]  Patti M. Valkenburg,et al.  Double Dose: High Family Conflict Enhances the Effect of Media Violence Exposure on Adolescents’ Aggression , 2013 .

[62]  Dian A. de Vries,et al.  Women on display: The effect of portraying the self online on women's self-objectification , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[63]  G. Logan,et al.  Impulsivity and Inhibitory Control in Normal Development and Childhood Psychopathology , 1990 .