SUMMARY

BackgroundEveryday internet usage is particularly significant in the population of adolescents and young people. Besides numerous benefits, internet usage brings certain risks of addictive behavior. Internet Addiction Test (IAT) is the most spread scale for measuring internet addiction. The aim of this study was to investigate internet addiction on a sample of Croatian adolescents.MethodsOverall, 352 students aged between 15 and 20 from randomly selected high schools participated in the study. We have collected the data on the Internet Addiction Test along with basic demographic information. The main analyses included the factorization of IAT test and the measurement of prevalence of internet addiction with the analysis of the gender differences.ResultsThe results showed that 3.4% of high school students reported high levels of internet addiction, while 35.4% of respondents reported some signs of addiction. Three-factor structure of IAT was obtained with dimensions: Emotional and cognitive internet preoccupation, then Neglecting work and lack of self-control and the last one is Social problems. Although the first factor has the most significant role in internet addiction risk, gender differences were found only in the last two factors, where boys have higher scores on Social Problems, while girls have higher scores on Neglecting work and lack of self-control.ConclusionsBased on our results, the prevention activities should be focused on the area of ​​emotional and social competence and the responsible use of internet. Since the result show that a third of the sample show moderate signs of addiction, programs of both indicated and selective prevention should be systematically planned for the general population of adolescents as well as for the groups in risk. The obtained gender differences indicate that the preventive and treatment programs should take into account gender specifics.

Ovisnost o internetu i elektroničko nasilje među mladima pojave su koje, zbog razvoja tehnologije i široke dostupnosti interneta, bilježe porast. Istraživanje je provedeno s adolescentima (N = 352) u 9 slučajno odabranih srednjih škola u Republici Hrvatskoj, kako bi se ispitali odnosi između načina upotrebe interneta i rizičnih online ponašanja mladih. Upotrijebljeni su standardizirani mjerni instrumenti: Test ovisnosti o internetu (Young, 1998) i Upitnik o doživljavanju i činjenju elektroničkoga nasilja (Del Rey i sur., 2015) te pitanja o sociodemografskim obilježjima ispitanika i online aktivnostima sudionika. Rezultati pokazuju da se kod 36,2% sudionika javljaju znakovi ovisnosti o internetu, dok 50,7% učenika sudjeluje u raznim pojavnim oblicima elektroničkoga nasilja. Količina vremena provedenog na internetu u slanju instant poruka, gledanju filmova/videa, slušanju glazbe i igranju online igara korelira s ovisnosti o internetu i sa sudjelovanjem u virtualnom nasilju među mladima. Istraživanje je potvrdilo pretpostavke teorije rutinskih aktivnosti, a rezultati upućuju na to da učenici koji provode elektroničko nasilje pokazuju tendenciju rizičnoga ponašanja i u ostalim online aktivnostima. U radu je predstavljen odnos između razine ovisnosti o internetu i uključenosti u činjenje i doživljavanje elektroničkoga nasilja te su navedene smjernice za buduća istraživanja na ovom području.Ključne riječi: ovisnost o internetu, elektroničko nasilje, online aktivnosti, adolescenti Lucija Vejmelka, Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Studijski centar socijalnog rada, Nazorova 51, 10 000 Zagreb, Hrvatska. E-mail: lucijav@gmail.com 59 Ovaj rad temelji se na istraživačkom projektu provedenom u suradnji autorica koji je priznat kao diplomski rad na Studijskom centru socijalnog rada Pravnoga fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a transition to online services in almost all aspects of life. Today, online access is an important aspect of child well-being more than ever. The aim of the study was to investigate online activities and gender differences of children with a special focus on harmful online content, cyberbullying, and Internet addiction. Our research was conducted among students from one Croatian county (average age = 14.97, N = 494). The Internet Addiction Test, the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire, as well as questions constructed for the purposes of this research (e.g., online contents) were used. Between 20% and 30% of students spend four or more hours a day online. Furthermore, 14.57% of students showed moderate signs of addiction, and 1.42% already showed severe signs of addiction, where girls had significantly higher results. The results indicated that 12.75% of students were victims, 5.87% were perpetrators, and 8.3% were, at the same time, committing and experiencing cyberbullying. Children who commit and/or experience cyberbullying achieve higher results on the scale of Internet addiction than children who do not participate in cyberbullying. These findings contribute to our understanding of Internet usage and especially its problematic aspect in such a complex time as the COVID-19 pandemic, and they can be useful for planning future interventions with children.

The aim of this study was to investigate the opinion of authors on the overall quality and effectiveness of reviewers’ contributions to reviewed papers. We employed an on-line survey of thirteen journals which publish articles in the field of life, social or technological sciences. Responses received from 193 authors were analysed using a mixed-effects model in order to determine factors deemed the most important in the authors’ evaluation of the reviewers. Qualitative content analysis of the responses to open questions was performed as well. The mixed-effects model revealed that the authors’ assessment of the competence of referees strongly depended on the final editorial decision and that the speed of the review process was influential as well. In Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) analysis on seven questions detailing authors’ opinions, perception of review speed remained a significant predictor of the assessment. In addition, both the perceived competence and helpfulness of the reviewers significantly and positively affected the authors’ evaluation. New models were used to re-check the value of these two factors and it was confirmed that the assessment of the competence of reviewers strongly depended on the final editorial decision.

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The virtual environment available through the internet is an important domain of children’s subjective well-being. Widespread usage of information technology brings risks as well as benefits, a topic now under intensive study by professionals in multiple fields. To date there has been a lack of research about the experiences of children from group accommodation settings when navigating the virtual environment. The main goal of the present study, which involved 510 high school students living in dormitories in Split-Dalmatia County, was to determine and document patterns of internet usage and internet addiction, and to examine another internet behavior, cyberbullying. Our results show that 3.73% of the children we studied manifested a severe level of internet addiction, while about one third took part in cyberbullying as victim, perpetrator, or both. An important finding is that children involved with cyberbullying have significantly higher levels of internet addiction, suggesting a relationship between these phenomena. In the second, qualitative, phase of the study, the quantitative research findings were discussed with children, parents, teachers, and staff. Our results enable a better understanding of young people`s behaviors in the online world, and could contribute to the development of educational programs for children and young people and the promotion of evidence-based practice in dormitory settings.