Modereren ouder-kind relaties het verband tussen social mediagebruik en empathie?

Abstract

Lately, some concerns have been raised because of the fact that social media might have a negative influence on empathy in adolescents; its effects on psychosocial development are not fully clear and yet, social media is progressively being used more. However, there are reasons to believe that social media use might be positively associated with empathy in adolescents. It seems, here, that a qualitative parent-child relationship might be at the core of the differences in outcomes as far as the relation between social media use and empathy is concerned. In other words: the parent-child relationship might have a moderation effect in the relationship between social media use and empathy in adolescents. This study’s aim is to find out whether these assumptions hold true or not. Method A number of adolescents between the age of 12 and 18 years old (N=442) participated in this study. A multiple regression was performed, along with a PROCESS Macro analysis. Questionnaires have been used in order to do so: a self made instrument (the social media activity scale), the Adolescent Measure of Empathy and Sympathy (AMES) and the Network of Relationship Inventory (NRI). Results This study shows that a considerable amount of variance is being explained by the model. More social media use does in fact entail a higher degree of empathy. However, no moderation effect was found, seeing as there was no interaction effect. Conclusion Even though the results are divided, this study gives rise to new additional studies that aim to provide a more thorough understanding of the relationship between social media use and empathy. Suggestions for future research have been made and ought to be taken into consideration to establish novel research in the near future.