Engl. transl.: YOUNG! DIGITAL! SOCIAL? Explanatory factors for online social skills in childhood and adolescence

"For the first time, a study by the Deutsches Jugendinstituts and the Vodafone Stiftung investigates in a differentiated way how socially competent young people behave online and which factors influence their behaviour. According to the results, both parental media education and peer pressure play an important role in online social behaviour. Besides, many young people find it difficult to communicate with each other, with parents or teachers about negative online experiences. Effective prevention against bullying and hate speech among young people online could start at these points." (Vodafone Stiftung 2019 [URL: https://www.vodafone-stiftung.de/jung-digital-sozial/]) (translated by the coder)

"The results suggest that students seem to find socially competent interaction with others easier than communicative exchange about online experiences and online skills. [...] The descriptive findings have further shown that female and male youths seem to differ in their social competence and socially competent behaviour online. The female respondents stated that they had more participative and moral social competence and that they also practised such behaviour more often than their male peers. [...] In contrast, the male respondents surprisingly showed a stronger integrative behaviour and thus stated more frequently that they talk about their online experiences with their friends, for example. These findings imply that male adolescents deal more with online content in their everyday lives and also seem to address it more in the context of their peer relationships, while girls tend to pay more attention to good and socially accepted interaction with each other in their online activities" (Festl et al. 2019, 42). "With increasing age, the respondents did not act in a more socially compliant online despite a higher level of knowledge, as other motives and behavioural goals, such as establishing one's own status in the circle of friends, may be more preferred" (Festl et al. 2019, 42f.). "If, on the other hand, the components of social competence and socially competent behaviour are examined independently of the individual socio-demographic groups, it is consistently shown that more knowledge, higher behavioural motivation and more skills were associated with higher socially competent behaviour among young people online" (Festl et al. 2019, 43). "Adolescents who use the internet more intensively and peer-related seem to pay less attention to socially appropriate interaction, but integrate their friends more intensively and communicate with them about their online experiences. It seems that for these young people, online interactions with their friends are in the foreground at the expense of social interaction" (Festl et al. 2019, 43). (translated by the coder)