Poster Template

1
The Effect of Virtual Worlds on Adolescents' Real
World Lives
Cheyenne Cummings and Larry Rosen,
Ph.D. California State University, Dominguez
Hills
Introduction
Graphical Results
Results
In todays society MySpace has become one of the
top virtual worlds for teens. MySpace is a social
networking website founded in 2003 and provides
an interactive, user-submitted network of
friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups,
photos, and more. MySpace is the third most
popular website in the U.S.A, only after
yahoo.com and google.com (Alexa Internet, 2007).
One study found that 55 of online American youth
between ages of 12 and 17 use online social
networking websites and 85 of them prefer
MySpace as their social networking site (Lenhart
Madden, 2007). Teen use of MySpace leads to the
question How do virtual worlds affect
adolescents real world lives? This study focused
on finding whether the Internet particularly
MySpace use interferes with an adolescents
real world life.

• MySpace Interference
• Parents believe that MySpace interferes with
  schoolwork, family time, outdoor activities, and
  chores more than teens (p2 with outdoor activities pparents and teens felt MySpace interfered in
  relationships with offline friends less then any
  other category, but the difference was still
  significant (pimpact family time the most in both studies.
• Information Disclosure
• Parents believe teens disclose less then teens
  actually disclose with every category being
  significant from Study 1 and Study 2. Teens in
  both studies disclosed more than their parents
  estimates indicated, and school name was the
  information most often disclosed by teens.
• Computer Usage
• Teens spent significantly more days and more
  hours per day on MySpace when the computer was
  located in the bedroom. However, Study 2 teens
  did not show significant difference in hours per
  day regardless of the computers location.

z 5.72
z 3.34
z 3.84
z 5.89
z 1.54
z 3.11
z 4.86
Material and Methods
z 3.56
z 2.67
z 1.74

• Using an upper-division undergraduate social
  science course, students were assigned to
  distribute the website link to an online survey
  as a class project, which included a consent form
  for both parent and teen. Both studies included
  multiple questions assessing demographics of
  parent and teen teen MySpace use and parental
  awareness parent perceptions of online behavior
  and parental attitudes about teen MySpace use.
  The two surveys were administered June 2006 and
  September 2006. No incentives were given for
  participation.

z 7.27
z 4.41
z 5.07
Study 1
z 2.60
z 3.67
z 4.79
z 1.81
Two hundred sixty-six teen-parent pairs took part
in an anonymous online questionnaire. One
specification was teens had to be MySpace users.
Parents consisted of 66 female, and parent ages
ranged from 30s-50s. Only 14 of parents marked
themselves as single. The average household
included two children. Most parents were employed
full time and over half reported having a college
degree (53) and another 24 had some college. As
for teens, although children under 14 are
prohibited from establishing a MySpace page, our
sample of 44 males and 56 females included 13
under 14, 44 between 14 and 16, and 43 between
17 and 18 (M15.9).
z 5.025
z 5.27
z 6.07
z 3.84
z 5.89
z 4.82
z 2.87
Study 2
Conclusion
Three hundred forty-two teen-parent pairs
participated in a second online, anonymous
survey. The two studies had no significant
differences in demographics. Parents were again
mainly female (75), with 85 in a two-parent
home. Most worked fulltime (73), with one (44)
to four children (M 2.00). Parents again
ranged from their 30s-50s. Most parents
reported having a college degree (40) and
another 29 had some college. Teens included 38
males and 62 females, and with 17 under 14, 42
between 14 and 16, and 41 between 17 and 18
(M15.7). Most teens had been on MySpace for six
months to one year (30) or more than one year
(47).

• Parents and teens do not see eye-to-eye in that
  parents more then teens feel MySpace interferes
  with most offline activities. Also, teens
  disclose more information than parents believe
  including school name which is part of the
  MySpace personal page design. Also, teens who
  have a computer located in the bedroom spend more
  time on MySpace, both in number of days and hours
  per day.

z 0.18
z 2.38
z 4.54
z 1.67
p
Supported in part by NIH/MBRS GM62252.