Receiving cybergossip: Adolescents’ attitudes and feelings towards responses

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand youth's attitudes and emotions towards responses to cybergossip. Youth (N = 160, ages 10–16) read ten stories involving cybergossip, where an individual received gossip electronically from a friend. The target of gossip was either another friend or a classmate (Target Relationship: friend/classmate). The gossip receiver responded to the gossip sharer in five different ways (Response: passive/positive intervention/negative intervention/encouraging/blocking). In addition, as a between-subjects factor, the online setting was either a private conversation between the sharer and receiver or a public setting involving the sharer, receiver, and a few other friends in a group chat (Setting: private/public). Age (preadolescent/adolescent) and gender (female/male) differences were also examined. Participants were asked to morally evaluate each response, rate the effectiveness of each response, and rate their emotions towards using each response. The findings highlight the nuances of responding to cybergossip and the role of personal and contextual factors. Moreover, the results suggest there are misconceptions among youth about the effectiveness of interventions. These results and others as well as the implications will be discussed. The findings provide critical information on what youth in today's digital world believe are acceptable and effective ways to cyber-communicate.

Keywords

• Cybergossip
• Response
• Friend
• Preadolescent
• Adolescent