The internet has become a major research focus across disciplines and studies report both risks and benefits of use. However, less research explores family technology dynamics from an ecological perspective and how internet use occurring within and outside the family microsystem relates to individual and family well‐being. This study explores parents’ and adolescents’ use of the internet and other technology in terms of family connectedness and parent–child dynamics. Data are derived from the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s Networked Families 2008 surveys (
n
= 386) and Parents & Teens 2006 (
n
= 696). Results illustrate how social media technology has the potential to strengthen family bonds. In addition, how parents and adolescents negotiate the role of the internet in their families has implications for adolescent exposure to potential harm from outside the family system. Future directions are offered for exploring families and technology from a dynamic and multisystemic perspective.
The purpose of this study was to examine how online social networking facilitates adolescent grieving following the sudden death of a peer. Researchers reviewed 20 profiles authored by adolescents who had died between 2005 and 2007 collecting information from commentary posted to the profiles posthumously. Observed themes included adolescent Internet users directing comments to the deceased, posting memorial sentiments, indicators of coping strategies, current events and memories, comments about the act of commenting, cause of death, comments from distal or unknown peers, religious beliefs, and attending the funeral. In addition to prolonging an attachment with the deceased, online social networking also facilitates teenagers' coping in a way that grants unlimited freedom and opportunity to reflect back over their relationship with the deceased.
Self-report questionnaire, school records, and census block group data for 502 Latino adolescents in immigrant families were examined using multilevel modeling to test how structural neighborhood adversity, in addition to perceived neighborhood, parental, and adolescent factors, explained grade point average (GPA). The results showed perceived neighborhood risk, mothers' education aspirations for youth, and gender were directly related to GPA. Academic motivation mediated the relationship between fathers' and mothers' monitoring and GPA. Implications for prevention, intervention, and policy are presented.
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