Resilience research: the what and why of adolescent engagement online

BackgroundByron report UK 2008

1. Reduce availability of harmful material.

2. Restrict access through a combination of technical tools and informed parenting.

3. ‘To increase children’s resilience to the material to which they may be exposed, so that they have the confidence and skills to navigate these new media waters successfully.’

What is resilience?

• 35+ years of research• The ability to manage short and long-term

desires in line with values• Self-regulation

- Does autonomous self-regulation of internet and social media use lead to positive outcomes?

What motivates self-regulation?

• External vs. internal drivers• Reactive vs proactive• Parent involvement• Parent autonomy support• Parent unconditional regard

Parental online mediation strategies

• Active Mediation• Co-viewing• Restriction – content, time, place

What is active online engagement?

• Self-guided learning• Self expression• Relationship development• Creative expression• Civic engagement

Research questions

• How do caregiver climate, parental mediation strategies, and digital skills relate to online resilience in young people?

• How do parental mediation strategies, digital skills, and online resilience relate to active engagement online?

Hypotheses

Young people who self-regulate online are more likely to have recently capitalised on the internet to:

• teach themselves new skills• grow as a person• express their thoughts creatively• build social connections with their peers and in

the public sphere.

If resilience does lead to positive outcomes….

what factors lead to self-regulated internet use?

general caregiver climate

parental online skills?

parental attitudes to the internet?

Research

• Representative Cohort • Adolescent Britons• 2,002 Respondents • 14-17 Years Old

What we measured

Caregiver ClimateParent involvement, autonomy support & unconditional regard

Parent Mediation Strategies

Active mediation, co-use approach & restrictive approaches

Resilient Self-Regulation OnlineGeneral internet & social media

Young Person & Parent Digital Skills and attitudes

Active Engagement Online

Learning, expression, relationships, creativity & civics

Digital skills

• Young people who believed that information communication technologies benefit society had higher skills and were more likely to be resilient self-regulators

• Caregiver digital skills were not important, but attitudes were.

Mediation strategies

• General/blanket restriction was bad – these young people the least resilient

• Parental monitoring was related to young people being being less likely to seek out information, express themselves and be social.

• Parental mediation strategies were unrelated to civic engagement or creative expression.

Conclusions• General caregiver climate, unconditional regard,

autonomy support and involvement fostered resilience.

• Some forms of mediation were neutral to or negatively related to resilience.

• Restrictive forms of mediation thwarted resilience. • Many forms of mediation appeared to thwart active

engagement.• Resilient self-regulation of internet & social media

is linked to active engagement online.

Takeaways• Motivational approaches studied in everyday contexts apply

to online behaviour. • There is more to preparing young people for life online than

protection. • Protection strategies such as filtering may thwart long-term

online thriving. • Need to move away from a singular focus on risks to

acknowledge implications of mediation strategies for resilience and active engagement.

• Need to look at what fosters resilient self-regulation – and its wider benefits.