This study focused on the joint effects of teachers and peer groups as predictors of change in students' engagement during the first year of middle school, when the importance of peer relationships normatively increases and the quality of teacher-student relationships typically declines. To explore cumulative and contextualized joint effects, the study utilized three sources of information about an entire cohort of 366 sixth graders in a small town: Peer groups were identified using socio-cognitive mapping; students reported on teacher involvement; and teachers reported on each student's engagement. Consistent with models of cumulative effects, peer group engagement and teacher involvement each uniquely predicted changes in students' engagement. Consistent with contextualized models suggesting differential susceptibility, peer group engagement was a more pronounced predictor of changes in engagement for students who experienced relatively low involvement from teachers. These peer effects were positive or negative depending on the engagement versus disaffection of each student's peer group. Personcentered analyses also revealed cumulative and contextualized effects. Most engaged were students who experienced support from both social partners; steepest engagement declines were found when students affiliated with disaffected peers and also experienced teachers as relatively uninvolved. High teacher involvement partially protected students from the motivational costs of affiliating with disaffected peers, and belonging to engaged peer groups partially buffered students' engagement from the effects of low teacher involvement. These findings suggest that, although peer groups and teachers are each important individually, a complete understanding of their contributions to students' engagement requires the examination of their joint effects.
Passive social networking site use and well-being: The mediating roles of social comparison and the fear of missing out.
AbstractPassively browsing social networking sites (SNSs) correlates with poorer well-being (Verduyn, Ybarra, Résibois, Jonides, & Kross, 2017). However, less research has been conducted that fully examines what factors may mediate this association. In particular, both online social comparison and the fear of missing out (FoMO) may play roles in how passive SNS browsing relates to depressive symptoms and self-perceptions. The current study adds to the literature by investigating how passive use relates to these outcomes through social comparison and FoMO. For an ethnically diverse sample of college students (N = 717, Mage = 21.47, SDage = 4.64, 69% female), passively using SNSs positively predicted social comparison, which was positively related to FoMO, which in turn positively predicted depressive symptoms, and negatively predicted global self-worth, self-perceived physical appearance, and self-perceived social acceptance. These findings suggest that social comparison and FoMO play a role in the link between passive SNS use, depressive symptoms, and self-perceptions, and that FoMO could result from online social comparison.
Substance use increases during emerging adulthood and may relate to higher concurrent and future problems. For a community sample of 140 emerging adults, this study explores the associations between reported alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use in 12th grade, the content of public posts and private messaging on Facebook during the fall after 12th grade, and self-reported substance use 1 year after high school. About one quarter of participants discussed substances publicly, and nearly half discussed substances privately on Facebook as observationally coded by researchers. Twelfth-grade substance use predicted the probability of engaging in public and private substance-related discussions. Tobacco and marijuana use predicted the frequency of private messaging about substances. Public and private online substance discussions predicted positive changes in marijuana use 1 year later. Results from this study suggest that social media discussions about substances, particularly private messages, may signal and shape emerging adults’ substance use behaviors.
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