No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Contemporary adolescents rely heavily on technology and media to navigate romantic relationships. In this mixed-methods study, adolescents and young adults (N = 204) detailed their perceptions of how entertainment media and interactive technology influence adolescent romantic relationships. The majority of adolescents and young adults perceived that entertainment media (95%) and interactive technology (97%) did influence adolescent romantic relationships. Using a qualitative analysis approach, we found six major themes. Although entertainment media provided media role models for expected behavior in romantic relationships, it was also associated with the development of unrealistic relational expectations and perceived pressure to be in a romantic relationship. Participants perceived that interactive technology has changed the way adolescents communicate with romantic partners, become integrated into the entire relationship life cycle, and led to a decline in face-to-face communication in adolescent romantic relationships.

Burgeoning technology provides instant access to information and communication. Responsible adults are concerned about the material accessed by adolescent technology users. From an ecological system's lens, using a mixed-methods design, the current study identified adolescent and parent perceptions of parental mediation of adolescent interactive technology use (i.e., cell phones, Internet). Eighty adolescents (16-18 years of age) and their parents (n ¼ 113) participated in the study that identified generational differences in perceptions of parental mediation, techniques for mediating interactive technology (i.e., monitoring data and usage, active mediation, rules, restriction), and adolescent perceptions of the process of parental mediation. We used the results to propose principles for parental mediation of adolescent interactive technology use and provide directions for future research.

Young adults (n = 702; 18-23 years old) completed measures of psychosocial development, identity status, and friendship. Friendship conflict and support were related with psychosocial development, and with the identity statuses. As per Erikson's prescription, early psychosocial stages were relevant to the identity statuses. After statistically controlling for the predictive variability contributed by trust, autonomy, initiative, and industry with the identity status measures, conflict and support within friendships contributed predictive variability to identity achievement (3.2%), moratorium (2.4%), and diffusion (2.5%), but neither conflict nor support within friendships was related to foreclosure scores. Conflict within friendships was positively related with moratorium and diffusion, and support within friendships was negatively related with diffusion.

No abstract