BET-TER Skills

Photo by  Alex Green  from  Pexels The article, Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Online Risk Taking: The Role of Gist and Verbatim Representations , dealt with two areas of online risk-taking behaviors (disclosing personal information and in befriending an unknown person online) in adolescents and young adults. It focused on the psychological factors involved in their decision making. The researchers based their work on the Fuzzy Trace Theory (FTT). FTT says that there are two different mechanisms used when making decisions about risky behavior. Verbatim representations are based on quantitative and detailed information about events or judgments, or a cost-benefit analysis. Gist representations are qualitative and intuitive. They are based on a person’s values, beliefs, and past experiences.                The aims of this study were to determine if there were developmental differences between adolescen...

Photo by  Tima Miroshnichenko  from  Pexels                         The article, Young Adult Perceptions of Internet Communications and the Grooming Concept, aimed to determine the perceptions of youth in regard to online communication, especially in respect to grooming. The researchers highlighted how there is not a universally accepted definition of grooming and also detailed the ways that groomers use technology to identify and groom their victims. The researchers addressed the following two-pronged research question: Do young adults take part in risky behavior online, and if they do, what are some of the reasons why?   In answering these questions, the researchers hoped to identify how young adults perceive grooming. The research study was a qualitative study consisting of a sample of 10 participants ranging in age from 18 to 23. The participants were selected from three youth organizations in E...

Research Methods  Article Reflection Photo by  Ketut Subiyanto  from  Pexels             My first article to analyze was Online Risk Perception in Young People and its Effects on Digital Behavior (Ramos-Soler et al., 2018). The researchers hypothesized that most children have low risk perception, and for those who don’t it is because they have more actively involved parents, spend less time online, are less device-dependent, and they experience less risk because their online behavior is safer.     The researchers studied minors in Madrid, Spain using ad hoc questionnaires. The participants were selected from nine randomly selected schools from randomly selected fifth, eighth, and eleventh year classes. Their research led them to break down the sample into seven distinct groups, each with varying degrees of risk perception and family intervention.             The r...

          My topic is Digital Citizenship with an intended focus of improving online safety habits in adolescents.           I see the need for this on a daily basis in my classroom.  I hear conversations between students on a regular basis where they are talking about what they've posted online (or in a group chat), which could compromise their safety. My preliminary research shows that there have been many studies that confirm what I have seen in person.            Vanderhoven et al. (2014) found that teenagers are posting information on Facebook that could pose a risk to their safety and privacy settings are lacking for most. Thus, interventions that help to raise awareness for teens are needed.           Social media posting is not the only area where there is danger. Digital Dating Abuse (DDA) is a growing problem as well. A study done by Ellyson et a...