Phubbing (phone-snubbing) has become a pervasive public communication phenomenon which adversely affects its targets and sources. Yet, research on phubbing is not built on a consistent theoretical ...basis and examinations on its effects on the public are still missing. This study aimed at addressing these research gaps by conceptualizing the behavior as an act of smartphone-induced social exclusion and investigating whether phubbing impacts its observers. In a between-subject experiment, N = 160 participants observed photos of dyadic interpersonal interactions in different everyday contexts which depicted one-sided, reciprocal, or no phubbing. Results revealed that observers of phubbing experienced negative affect and stress. Observers also derogated individuals who used their smartphones in social interactions regarding their warmth and competence; these effects were mediated by observers’ perceived relationship quality between the observed persons. Affective and cognitive outcomes emerged independently of observers’ gender. As these findings are in line with the effects and processes outlined in the temporal need-threat model of ostracism (i.e., social exclusion), they support the assumptions that phubbing is a form of smartphone-induced social exclusion and that its negative effects go beyond social interactions in which the behavior occurs. With this, the present study expands research regarding a modern communication phenomenon by strengthening its theoretical foundation and arriving at important theoretical and practical implications concerning targets, sources, and observers of phubbing.
Parental practices that aim at increasing children's physical activity were found to be related to children's physical activity. So far, however, the association between these two sets of variables ...was studied without considering the moderating role of children's BMI z-score, which may determine the effectiveness of parental practices. The present study aims at filling this void.
Longitudinal data were collected among 879 dyads of children (6-11 years old) and their parents. Seven parental physical activity practices were assessed at baseline. Physical activity, body mass, and height (measured among children) were assessed twice (at baseline and 7-month follow-up). Body mass and height were measured objectively. Seven moderation analyses were conducted.
Six parental practices emerged to predict physical activity of children: collaborative social control, overall support, stimulation to be active, general encouragement for physical activity, positive social control, and modeling. Children's BMI z-score moderated three associations. The relationships between parental positive social control, overall parental support, and general parental encouragement for physical activity (at baseline), and children's physical activity (at follow-up) were significant only among children with low and medium BMI z-score. In turn, collaborative social control and modeling predicted children's physical activity at the follow-up regardless child's BMI z-score.
Parental positive social control or overall parental support may be ineffective in children with higher body mass who are in need to increase their physical activity.
Most adolescents do not meet the recommendations for physical activity (PA) of at least 1 h per day. Individual planning (IP) interventions, including forming plans for when, where and how (action ...planning) to engage in a behavior, as well as the planning for how to deal with arising barriers (coping planning), are effective to enhance PA in adults. Collaborative planning (CP) is conjoint planning of two individuals regarding a behavior which is performed together. It is assumed that CP stimulates social exchange processes between the planning partners. However, it remains unclear whether planning interventions of PA in adolescents are successful and which planning intervention is more effective. Thus, this cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) examines changes in daily moderate-to-vigorous PA in adolescents' friendship dyads resulting from planning. Individual self-regulating mechanism and social exchange processes are proposed as mediating mechanisms of the effects of planning for health behavior change.
A single-blind four-arm parallel-group cluster-RCT is used. The sample consists of 400 friendship dyads between 14 and 18 years of age. As the recruitment takes place in schools, a cluster randomization of the schools is used to enroll dyads to (a) an IP intervention, (b) a CP intervention or (c) one of the two no-planning control conditions. Devise-measured and self-reported PA as the primary outcomes, self-regulatory strategies, and social exchange processes as secondary outcomes are assessed at three or four time points. After baseline measurement, the baseline ecological momentary assessment of the main variables takes place for 8 days followed by the intervention and a 7-days diary phase. Follow-ups are 1 month and 6 months later. Subsequent to the six-month follow-up, another 7-days diary phase takes place.
This is the first study examining IP in comparison to CP in adolescents applying a single-blind cluster RCT. Consequently, the study allows for understanding the efficacy of individual and collaborative planning and the underlying mechanisms in adolescent dyads.
This RCT was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (100019_169781/1) and was registered on 18/06/2018 at ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03575559 .
Background
The COVID-19 lockdowns have led to social detriments and altered learning environments among university students. Recent research indicates that such ramifications may engender various ...impairments to students’ mental health. However, such research has major limitations, such as the lack of a prepandemic control measure, the focus on singular well-being parameters, or the investigation of only the early phases of the pandemic.
Objective
To address these research gaps, this comprehensive and nationwide study compared 3 student cohorts (aged 17-48 years) in Germany: a prepandemic cohort (January-February 2020), a postlockdown cohort (May 2020-July 2020), and an intralockdown cohort (January-February 2021) regarding students’ general emotional well-being and academic functioning. It was hypothesized that, because of rigorous lockdown-related restrictions, students in the intralockdown cohort would report diminished general emotional well-being compared with the other cohorts. Furthermore, because of ongoing remote learning since the beginning of the pandemic, it was expected that students’ academic functioning would decrease across all 3 cohorts.
Methods
The data collection was performed over 3 consecutive semesters (fall semester 2019-2020, spring semester 2020, and fall semester 2020-2021). Students were surveyed on the web on various aspects regarding their general emotional well-being (eg, stress and general well-being) and academic functioning (eg, concentration and study-related flow). Data analyses were performed using multivariate ANOVAs.
Results
A total of 787 students participated in this study. Results indicated higher general well-being in the postlockdown cohort than in the intralockdown cohort (P=.02). As for students’ academic functioning, our results revealed that students in the prepandemic cohort reported higher study-related flow (P=.007) and concentration (P=.001) than those in the intralockdown cohort. In addition, students reported higher flow (P=.04) and concentration (P=.04) in the postlockdown cohort than those in the intralockdown cohort. No cohort effects were revealed for other aspects of general emotional well-being (eg, perceived stress) and academic functioning (eg, procrastination).
Conclusions
This study indicates that students’ general emotional well-being as well as motivational and attentional components of academic functioning can be impaired owing to the COVID-19 lockdowns and ongoing remote learning formats. The necessity and design of interventional programs remedying such effects in light of the ongoing crisis need to be addressed.
People spend large parts of their everyday life using their smartphones. Despite various advantages of the smartphone for daily life, problematic forms of smartphone use exist that are related to ...negative psychological and physiological consequences. To reduce problematic smartphone use, existing interventions are oftentimes app-based and include components that help users to monitor and restrict their smartphone use by setting timers and blockers. These kinds of digital detox interventions, however, fail to exploit psychological resources, such as through promoting self-efficacious and goal-directed smartphone use.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the theory-based smartphone app "Not Less But Better" that was developed to make people aware of psychological processes while using the smartphone and to support them in using their smartphone in accordance with their goals and values.
In a randomized controlled trial, effects of a 20-day intervention app consisting of five 4-day training modules to foster a goal-directed smartphone use were evaluated. In the active control condition (treatment as usual), participants received a digital detox treatment and planned daily time-outs of at least 1 hour per day. Up to a 3-week follow-up, self-reported problematic smartphone use, objectively measured daily smartphone unlocks, time of smartphone use, self-efficacy, and planning towards goal-directed smartphone use were assessed repeatedly. Linear 2-level models tested intervention effects. Mediation models served to analyze self-efficacy and planning as potential mechanisms of the intervention.
Out of 232 enrolled participants, 110 (47.4%; 55 participants in each condition) provided data at postintervention and 88 (37.9%; 44 participants in each condition) at 3-week follow-up. Both conditions manifested substantial reductions in problematic smartphone use and in the amount of time spent with the smartphone. The number of daily unlocks did not change over time. Further, modelling changes in self-efficacy as a mediator between the intervention and problematic smartphone use at follow-up fit well to the data and showed an indirect effect (b=-0.09; 95% bias-corrected bootstrap CI -0.26 to -0.01), indicating that self-efficacy was an important intervention mechanism. Another mediation model revealed an indirect effect from changes in planning via smartphone unlocks at postintervention on problematic smartphone use at follow-up (b=-0.029, 95% bias-corrected bootstrap CI -0.078 to -0.003).
An innovative, theory-based intervention app on goal-directed smartphone use has been found useful in lowering problematic smartphone use and time spent with the smartphone. However, observed reductions in both outcomes were not superior to the active control condition (ie, digital detox treatment). Nonetheless, the present findings highlight the importance in promoting self-efficacy and planning goal-directed smartphone use to achieve improvements in problematic smartphone use. This scalable intervention app appears suitable for practical use and as an alternative to common digital detox apps. Future studies should address issues of high attrition by adding just-in-time procedures matched to smartphone users' needs.
German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00017606; https://tinyurl.com/27c9kmwy.
Although there is substantial evidence corroborating the within-individual associations between depression, social support, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and body mass, much less is ...known about across-individual associations. This study investigated the indirect associations between parental depression and objectively measured body mass in children. In particular, it was hypothesized that higher levels of parental depression (measured at Time 1, T1) would explain higher levels of child body mass in children (assessed at Time 2, T2), via three mediators, namely parental reports of provision of MVPA support (T1), child reports of receipt of MVPA support (T1), and child MVPA (T2).
Parent-child dyads provided self-reports twice, at baseline (T1) and 7- to 8-month follow-up (T2). A total of 879 dyads were enrolled (1,758 individuals; 5- to 11-year-old children, 52.4% girls, 83.2% mothers). Body weight and height were measured objectively. Manifest path analyses were performed to test the indirect effects.
Analyses corroborated the assumed indirect effects: high levels of depression in parents (T1) were indirectly associated with high levels of body mass in children (T2), via three mediators: low levels of parental support provision (T1), low levels of child support receipt (T1), and low levels of child MVPA (T2). The alternative models assuming that either parental support provision or child support receipt can be excluded as the mediators yelded a poor model-data fit. The hypothesized mediation effects were corroborated when controlling for the baseline levels of parental and child MVPA and body mass.
The findings confirm complex across-individual effects of parental depression on high levels of body mass in children. Parental mental health may contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic.
This study addressed differences between parent-child dyads with excessive body mass (overweight or obesity) and dyads with normal body mass in obesity determinants, derived from social-ecological ...models. It was hypothesized that parents and their 5-11 years-old children with excessive body mass would (1) report lower availability of healthy food at home, (2) perceive fewer school/local community healthy eating promotion programs, (3) report lower persuasive value of food advertising.
Data were collected twice (T1, baseline; T2, 10-month follow-up), including
= 129 parent-child dyads with excessive body mass and
= 377 parent-child dyads with normal body mass. Self-reported data were collected from parents and children; with body weight and height assessed objectively. General linear models (including analysis of variance with repeated measures) were performed to test the hypotheses.
Compared to dyads with normal body mass, dyads of parents and children with excessive body mass perceived lower availability of healthy food at home and fewer healthy eating promotion programs at school/local community (T1 and T2). These effects remained significant after controlling for sociodemographic variables. No significant differences in persuasive value of food advertising were found.
Perceptions of availability of healthy food at home and healthy nutrition promotion may be relatively low in parent-child dyads with excessive weight which, in turn, may constitute a risk factor for maintenance of obesity.
Objective. Compensatory health beliefs (CHBs) are defined as beliefs that negative consequences of unhealthy behaviours can be compensated for by engaging in other health behaviours. CHBs have not ...yet been investigated in detail regarding smoking. Smoking might cause cognitive dissonance in smokers, if they are aware that smoking is unhealthy and simultaneously hold the general goal of staying healthy. Hence, CHBs are proposed as one strategy for smokers to resolve such cognitive dissonance. The aim of the present study was to develop a scale to measure smoking‐specific CHBs among adolescents and to test whether CHBs are related to a lower readiness to stop smoking.
Design. For the main analyses, cross‐sectional data were used. In order to investigate the retest‐reliability follow‐up data, 4 months later were included in the analysis.
Method. A newly developed scale for smoking‐specific CHBs in adolescents was tested for its validity and reliability as well as its predictive value for the readiness to stop smoking in a sample of 244 smokers (15–21 years) drawn from different schools. Multilevel modelling was applied.
Results. Evidence was found for the reliability and validity of the smoking‐specific CHB scale. Smoking‐specific CHBs were significantly negatively related to an individual's readiness to stop smoking, even after controlling for other predictors such as self‐efficacy or conscientiousness.
Conclusions. CHBs may provide one possible explanation for why adolescents fail to stop smoking.
Smartphone use, e.g., on social network sites or instant messaging, can impair well-being and is related to clinical phenomena, like depression. Digital detox interventions have been suggested as a ...solution to reduce negative impacts from smartphone use on outcomes like well-being or social relationships. Digital detox is defined as timeouts from using electronic devices (e.g., smartphones), either completely or for specific subsets of smartphone use. However, until now, it has been unclear whether digital detox interventions are effective at promoting a healthy way of life in the digital era. This systematic literature review aimed to answer the question of whether digital detox interventions are effective at improving outcomes like health and well-being, social relationships, self-control or performance. Systematic searches of seven databases were carried out according to PRISMA guidelines, and intervention studies were extracted that examined timeouts from smartphone use and/or smartphone-related use of social network sites and instant messaging. The review yielded k = 21 extracted studies (total N = 3,625 participants). The studies included interventions in the field, from which 12 were identified as randomized controlled trials. The results showed that the effects from digital detox interventions varied across studies on health and well-being, social relationships, self-control, or performance. For example, some studies found positive intervention effects, whereas others found no effect or even negative consequences for well-being. Reasons for these mixed findings are discussed. Research is needed to examine mechanisms of change to derive implications for the development of successful digital detox interventions.
Web-based alcohol interventions are a promising way to reduce alcohol consumption because of their anonymity and the possibility of reaching a high numbers of individuals including heavy drinkers. ...However, Web-based interventions are often characterized by high rates of attrition. To date, very few studies have investigated whether individuals with higher alcohol consumption show higher attrition rates in Web-based alcohol interventions as compared with individuals with lower alcohol consumption.
The aim of this study was to examine the attrition rate and predictors of attrition in a Web-based intervention study on alcohol consumption.
The analysis of the predictors of attrition rate was performed on data collected in a Web-based randomized control trial. Data collection took place at the University of Konstanz, Germany. A total of 898 people, which consisted of 46.8% males (420/898) and 53.2% females (478/898) with a mean age of 23.57 years (SD 5.19), initially volunteered to participate in a Web-based intervention study to reduce alcohol consumption. Out of the sample, 86.9% (781/898) were students. Participants were classified as non-completers (439/898, 48.9%) if they did not complete the Web-based intervention. Potential predictors of attrition were self-reported: alcohol consumption in the last seven days, per week, from Monday to Thursday, on weekends, excessive drinking behavior measured with the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), and drinking motives measured by the Drinking Motive Questionnaire (DMQ-R SF).
Significant differences between completers and non-completers emerged regarding alcohol consumption in the last seven days (B=-.02, P=.05, 95% CI 0.97-1.00), on weekends (B=-.05, P=.003, 95% CI 0.92-0.98), the AUDIT (B=-.06, P=.007, 95% CI 0.90-0.98, and the status as a student (B=.72, P=.001, 95% CI 1.35-3.11). Most importantly, non-completers had a significantly higher alcohol consumption compared with completers.
Hazardous alcohol consumption appears to be a key factor of the dropout rate in a Web-based alcohol intervention study. Thus, it is important to develop strategies to keep participants who are at high risk in Web-based interventions.
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