self-monitoring, aggression, and prosocial behaviors in digital contexts and their associations with

110 Pages·2015·0.74 MB·English

POPULAR IN THE DIGITAL AGE: SELF-MONITORING, AGGRESSION, AND
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS IN DIGITAL CONTEXTS AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH
POPULARITY

A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of the
North Dakota State University
of Agriculture and Applied Science

By

John David Ranney

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Major Department:
Psychology

May 2015

Fargo, North Dakota
North Dakota State University

Graduate School

Title

POPULAR IN THE DIGITAL AGE: SELF-MONITORING, AGGRESSION, AND
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIORS IN DIGITAL CONTEXTS AND THEIR
ASSOCIATIONS WITH POPULARITY

By

John David Ranney

The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North Dakota State
University’s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE:

Dr. Wendy Troop-Gordon
Chair

Dr. Kathryn Gordon

Dr. Clay Routledge

Dr. Mark Meister

Approved:

06/01/2015 Dr. James Council
Date Department Chair
ABSTRACT
Information and communication technologies (ICT) play an important role in the social
lives of adolescents, as many of the social interactions that once occurred in face-to-face contexts
are now occurring through digital technologies. Although many of these interactions are
prosocial in nature, adolescents may also engage in high levels of aggression in ICT-mediated
contexts (Bauman, 2013; Bauman & Newman, 2013). Furthermore, they often engage in self-
monitoring when communicating with peers through ICTs in order to maintain a positive public
image (Subrahmanyam, Garcia, Harsono, Li, & Lipana, 2009). These digital behaviors may have
implications for how individuals establish and maintain their place within social hierarchies in
natural peer contexts (e.g., schools). Drawing on both The Hyperpersonal Theory of Computer-
Mediated Communication and Resource Control Theory, the current study examined concurrent
associations between digital self-monitoring, cyberaggression, cyber-prosocial behaviors, and
popularity. A sample of 273 (112 boys; 161 girls) adolescents attending high schools in the
Upper-Midwest of the United States provided data for this study during the fall of the 2014 –
2015 school year. Students completed a series of questionnaires consisting of peer-reports and
self-reports of aggressive and prosocial behaviors in face-to-face and digital contexts, peer-
reports of popularity, and self-reports of self-monitoring in digital and face-to-face
environments. Small positive correlations were found when examining associations between
peer- and self-rated cyberaggression and peer- and self-rated cyber-prosocial behavior (rs
between .11 and .22). Controlling for face-to-face overt and relational aggression,
cyberaggression was negatively related to adolescents’ popularity, particularly for individuals
who engaged in low to moderate levels of digital self-monitoring. Cyber-prosocial behavior was
positively associated with popularity generally, and specifically for adolescents low in face-to-
iii
face prosocial behaviors. Cyberaggression, cyber-prosocial behaviors, and sex also interacted to
predict popularity. Analyses revealed that for boys high in cyber-prosocial behaviors,
cyberaggression was positively associated with popularity, while the relation between
cyberaggression and popularity was not significant for girls or for boys low in cyber-prosocial
behavior. Results are discussed within the context of Resource Control Theory and how they
may be applied to researchers’ understanding of peer relationships in digital and face-to-face
social contexts.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Regina, Andalucía, and Cohan for supporting me through the late nights,
early mornings, and all of the wide variety of tasks needed to complete this project. This work
would not have gotten done without your constant inspiration and love.
Thank you also to Dr. Wendy Troop-Gordon for your help and guidance throughout
graduate school and the process of designing and conducting this study. The experiences and
skills you have given me are invaluable and will be a major reason for any successes I have in
the future.
Thank you to my committee members Dr. Kathryn Gordon, Dr. Clay Routledge, and Dr.
Mark Meister for your insightful comments and suggestions for this research and future studies.
Thank you to Denise and Lindy Hanneman for supporting me in my pursuit of my goals.
Thank you to Steve Ranney, Kim Skilling, and Chaney Skilling for your constant
encouragement.
Thank you to Tim Ranney for your patience and thoughtful advice during the highs and
lows of graduate school.
Thank you to Kayla Dahlke for your hard work and your willingness to wake up in the
early mornings and travel long distances to collect the data necessary to complete this project.
v
DEDICATION
I dedicate this work to Regina, Andalucía, and Cohan. As this chapter of our life closes, I look
forward to writing the next part of our story together.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. v
DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... x
LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
Adolescents’ ICT use .............................................................................................. 2
Hyperpersonal Theory of Computer-Mediated Communication & the
influence of ICTs on social interactions ................................................................. 3
Resource Control Theory & the importance of popularity among
adolescents .............................................................................................................. 7
Self-representation, aggression, & prosocial behavior in digital contexts............ 12
THE CURRENT STUDY ............................................................................................................. 19
METHODS ................................................................................................................................... 23
Participants ............................................................................................................ 23
Procedures ............................................................................................................. 23
Measures ............................................................................................................... 24
Demographics ........................................................................................... 24
Digital and face-to-face self-monitoring ................................................... 24
Peer-report measures ................................................................................. 25
Popularity ...................................................................................... 25
Cyberaggression ............................................................................ 25
Face-to-face aggression ................................................................ 26
Cyber- and face-to-face prosocial behavior .................................. 26
vii
Self-report measures of cyberagression and prosocial behavior
through ICTs ............................................................................................. 26
Supplemental measures ......................................................................................... 27
RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................... 28
Descriptive statistics ............................................................................................. 28
Associations between peer- and self-reported digital aggression and
prosocial behaviors ............................................................................................... 28
Bivariate correlations ............................................................................................ 32
Overview of analyses ............................................................................................ 33
Main effects .......................................................................................................... 34
Interactive effects .................................................................................................. 37
Supplemental analyses .......................................................................................... 40
DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 47
Cyber-prosocial behavior and popularity .............................................................. 47
Cyberaggression and popularity ........................................................................... 50
Peer-reports, self-reports and the assessment of cyber-prosocial behaviors ......... 53
Limitations and future directions .......................................................................... 54
CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................................................... 56
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 57
APPENDIX A: PARENTAL CONSENT FORM ........................................................................ 71
APPENDIX B: STUDENT CONSENT FORM ........................................................................... 74
APPENDIX C: DEMOGRAPHICS ............................................................................................. 77
APPENDIX D: DIGITAL & FACE-TO-FACE SELF-MONITORING ..................................... 80
APPENDIX E: PEER-REPORT MEASURES ............................................................................ 83
APPENDIX F: SELF-REPORT CYBERAGGRESSION & PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
THROUGH ICTs .......................................................................................................................... 90
viii
APPENDIX G: CYBERVICTIMIZATION ................................................................................. 91
APPENDIX H: FACE-TO-FACE VICTIMIZATION ................................................................. 93
APPENDIX I: ROSENBERG SELF-ESTEEM SCALE .............................................................. 95
APPENDIX J: CENTER FOR EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES DEPRESSION SCALE ........ 97
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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Means, standard deviations, and independent samples t-tests for study variables….……30
2. Correlations between peer- and self-reported cyberaggression and cyber-prosocial
behavior ………………………………………………………………………………….31
3. Bivariate correlations between popularity, self-monitoring, aggression, and
prosocial behavior.………………………………………………………………….……33
4. Main effects of digital self-monitoring, cyberaggression, and cyber-prosocial
behavior predicting concurrent popularity….……………………………………………36
5. Interactive effects of digital self-monitoring, cyberaggression, and cyber-prosocial
behavior predicting concurrent popularity……………………………………………….38
6. Interactive effects of cyberaggression and cyber-prosocial behaviors predicting
concurrent popularity……………….…………………………………………………....41
7. Interactive effects of cyberaggression and face-to-face aggression and the interactive
effect of cyber-prosocial behavior and face-to-face prosocial behaviors predicting
concurrent popularity.………………………………….………………………………...45

x