Showing papers by "Patti M. Valkenburg published in 2007"
TL;DR: There was a curvilinear relationship between age and perceived value of the Internet for intimate self-disclosure, such that 15-year-olds were at the epitome of online self- Disclosure.
Abstract: The 1st goal of this study was to investigate how online communication is related to the closeness of existing friendships. Drawing from a sample of 794 preadolescents and adolescents, the authors found that online communication was positively related to the closeness of friendships. However, this effect held only for respondents who primarily communicated online with existing friends and not for those who mainly talked with strangers. The 2nd goal was to refine 2 opposing hypotheses, the rich-get-richer and the social compensation hypotheses. Consistent with the rich-get-richer hypothesis, socially anxious respondents communicated online less often than did nonsocially anxious respondents. However, socially anxious respondents perceived the Internet as more valuable for intimate self-disclosure than did nonsocially anxious respondents, and this perception in turn led to more online communication. This result is consistent with the social compensation hypothesis. Online communication and closeness to friends increased with age. There was a curvilinear relationship between age and perceived value of the Internet for intimate self-disclosure, such that 15-year-olds were at the epitome of online self-disclosure. Girls were closer to friends and more socially anxious than were boys.
770 citations
TL;DR: Support is found for the stimulation hypothesis but not for the displacement hypothesis, and a moderating effect of type of online communication on adolescents’ well-being is found: Instant messaging, which was mostly used to communicate with existing friends, positively predictedWell-being via the mediating variables.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to contrast the validity of two opposing explanatory hypotheses about the effect of online communication on adolescents’ well-being. The displacement hypothesis predicts that online communication reduces adolescents’ well-being because it displaces time spent with existing friends, thereby reducing the quality of these friendships. In contrast, the stimulation hypothesis states that online communication stimulates well-being via its positive effect on time spent with existing friends and the quality of these friendships. We conducted an online survey among 1,210 Dutch teenagers between 10 and 17 years of age. Using mediation analyses, we found support for the stimulation hypothesis but not for the displacement hypothesis. We also found a moderating effect of type of online communication on adolescents’ well-being: Instant messaging, which was mostly used to communicate with existing friends, positively predicted well-being via the mediating variables (a) time spent with existing friends and (b) the quality of these friendships. Chat in a public chatroom, which was relatively often used to talk with strangers, had no effect on adolescents’ well-being via the mediating variables.
544 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed and tested an Internet-attribute-perception model that explains how self-disclosure develops in instant messaging (IM) interactions and found that adolescents' perceptions of the relevance of reduced nonverbal cues and controllability encouraged their feelings of disinhibition.
Abstract: This study developed and tested an “Internet-attribute-perception” model that explains how self-disclosure develops in instant messaging (IM) interactions. Following hyperpersonal communication theory, two attributes of computer-mediated communication (i.e., reduced nonverbal cues and controllability) were assumed to be responsible for increased online self-disclosure in IM. However, our model posed that any actual effects of these attributes would depend on users' perceptions of the relevance of these attributes. Furthermore, our model posed that these perceptions would mediate the relationship between personality characteristics (i.e., pri vate and public self-consciousness, and social anxiety) and online self-disclosure. Using structural equation modeling on a sample of 1,203 Dutch adolescents, we found that adolescents' perceptions of the relevance of reduced nonverbal cues and controllability encouraged their feelings of disinhibition, which in turn increased their online self-disclosure. As expected...
276 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate whether adolescents' exposure to a sexualized media environment is associated with stronger beliefs that women are sex objects and investigate whether this association was contingent on gender.
Abstract: This study was designed to investigate whether adolescents’ exposure to a sexualized media environment is associated with stronger beliefs that women are sex objects. More specifically, we studied whether the association between notions of women as sex objects and exposure to sexual content of varied explicitness (i.e., sexually non-explicit, semi-explicit, or explicit) and in different formats (i.e., visual and audio-visual) can be better described as cumulative or as hierarchical. Further, we investigated whether this association was contingent on gender. Based on data from an on-line survey of 745 Dutch adolescents aged 13 to 18, we found that the relationship between exposure to a sexualized media environment and notions of women as sex objects followed a hierarchical pattern: Starting with adolescents’ exposure to sexually semi-explicit content, the statistical significance of the relationship with notions of women as sex objects moved from semi-explicit to explicit sexual content and from visual to audio-visual formats. Exposure to sexually explicit material in on-line movies was the only exposure measure significantly related to beliefs that women are sex objects in the final regression model, in which exposure to other forms of sexual content was controlled. The relationship between exposure to a sexualized media environment and notions of women as sex objects did not differ for girls and boys.
272 citations
TL;DR: It was found that online dating was unrelated to income and educational level and people low in dating anxiety were more active online daters than people high indating anxiety.
Abstract: Although online dating has become an important strategy in finding a romantic partner, academic research into the antecedents of online dating is still scarce. The aim of this study was to investigate (a) the demographic predictors of online dating and (b) the validity of two opposite hypotheses that explain users' tendency to use the Internet for online dating: the social compensation and the rich-get-richer hypotheses. We presented 367 single Dutch Internet users between 18 and 60 years old with an online questionnaire. We found that online dating was unrelated to income and educational level. Respondents between 30 and 50 years old were the most active online daters. In support of the rich-get-richer hypothesis, people low in dating anxiety were more active online daters than people high in dating anxiety.
168 citations
TL;DR: This article found that Internet communication was negatively related to well-being, but when adolescents' closeness to friends and tendency to talk with strangers online were included in their structural equation model, an opposite pattern of results emerged.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to improve our insight into the relation between Internet communication and well-being. Drawing on a survey of 816 adolescents, we initially found that Internet communication was negatively related to well-being. However, when adolescents’ (a) closeness to friends and (b) tendency to talk with strangers online were included in our structural equation model, an opposite pattern of results emerged. First, the direct negative relation between Internet communication and well-being disappeared. Second, via the mediator closeness to friends, Internet communication showed a positive influence on well-being. Third, not Internet communication per se, but Internet communication with strangers accounted for a negative effect on well-being. Fourth, the effects of both Internet communication and Internet communication with strangers on well-being were most adverse for lonely adolescents.
141 citations
TL;DR: Two positive indirect effects of text-only CMC on interpersonal attraction are found: text- only CMC stimulated both self-disclosure and direct questioning, both of which in turn enhanced interpersonal attraction.
Abstract: The aims of this study were (a) to investigate the influence of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on interpersonal attraction and (b) to examine two underlying processes in the CMC-interpersonal attraction relationship. We identified two variables that may mediate the influence of CMC on interpersonal attraction: self-disclosure and direct questioning. Focusing on these potential mediating variables, we tested two explanatory hypotheses: the CMC-induced direct questioning hypothesis and the CMC-induced self-disclosure hypothesis. Eighty-one cross-sex dyads were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: text-only CMC, visual CMC, and face-to-face communication. We did not find a direct effect of CMC on interpersonal attraction. However, we did find two positive indirect effects of text-only CMC on interpersonal attraction: text-only CMC stimulated both self-disclosure and direct questioning, both of which in turn enhanced interpersonal attraction. Results are discussed in light of uncertainty reduction theory and CMC theories.
73 citations
TL;DR: Testing two hypotheses found that sexually-permissive people and high sensation-seekers will look for casual partners online because they value the anonymity of the internet and dating anxiety and physical self-esteem were unrelated to the seeking of Casual partners online.
Abstract: Research has dealt with the consequences of seeking casual partners online, but has been silent about its antecedents. To address this research gap, this study tested two hypotheses. The compensation hypothesis states that people high in dating anxiety and low in physical self-esteem seek casual dates online because the features of online communication (e.g. reduced cues, anonymity, controllability) allow them to compensate for the deficits experienced in offline dating. The recreation hypothesis proposes that sexually-permissive people and high sensation-seekers will look for casual partners online because they value the anonymity of the internet. Multivariate analyses of a survey of 729 Dutch adults supported the recreation hypothesis, but not the compensation hypothesis. Sexually-permissive people and high sensation-seekers looked for casual partners online more frequently than sexually-restrictive people and low sensation-seekers. Dating anxiety and physical self-esteem, in contrast, were unrelated to...
56 citations
TL;DR: For early and middle adolescents, greater levels of social anxiety reduced the use of webcams, whereas higher levels of private self-consciousness increased it, suggesting that the nature of computer-mediated communication may change considerably in the next years.
40 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated media priming effects in the context of a Summit meeting of European Union (EU) leaders and found that the media effects were not significantly moderated by political attentiveness or by political knowledge.
Abstract: This study investigates media priming effects in the context of a Summit meeting of European Union (EU) leaders. It differs in four ways from most previous non-experimental priming studies: (1) it provides survey data accompanied by a content analysis of the news, (2) it compares priming effects on evaluations of a number of political leaders, who differed in their visibility in the news, (3) it involves an issue with low salience, and (4) it studies priming effects in the context of a European Parliamentary democracy. The study involves a two-wave panel study (before and after the Summit) on a representative sample of 817 Dutch adults, and a content analysis of the newspaper and television news in the 8 weeks leading up to the Summit meeting. The study shows that media priming effects occur only for the politicians who appeared visible in the news in connection with the issue. The media priming effects were not significantly moderated by political attentiveness or by political knowledge. We also explore the aggregate level consequences of priming for the popularity of leaders, and demonstrate that, as a result of media priming, two politicians became more popular, despite having received a bad press.
26 citations
23 May 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, a man-vrouw paren is onderzocht welke onderliggende mechanismen (gelijkheid, vragen stellen and zelfonthulling) medieren in de relatie tussen computergemedieerde communicatie and aantrekkingskracht.
Abstract: In een experiment onder 81 man-vrouw paren is onderzocht welke onderliggende
mechanismen (gelijkheid, vragen stellen en zelfonthulling) medieren in de
relatie tussen computergemedieerde communicatie en aantrekkingskracht.