Research Report

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

Understanding the Experience

of Imaginary Audience in a Social
Media Environment
Implications for Adolescent Development
Drew P. Cingel1 and Marina Krcmar2
1

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA,

Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

Abstract. Adolescent use of social networking sites has grown quickly over the past decade. Despite this high level of use, less research has
examined the interaction between adolescent development and use of social networking sites. Thus, the present study seeks to understand the
relationship between adolescents Facebook use and their experience of a developmental construct, Imaginary Audience. Using survey data
collected from 260 participants between the ages of 9 and 26, results suggested a positive relationship between Facebook use and Imaginary
Audience ideation. Furthermore, to better understand this relationship, behavioral rehearsal was tested as a mediating variable. Results were
supportive of this mediator. The present study was limited in two main ways: First, given the cross-sectional survey design, we were unable to
make causal claims from our data. Second, the sample was predominantly homogenous in nature. Despite these limitations, however, the
implications of these findings are twofold: First, this research indicates that Facebook use is related to characteristics of adolescent
development. Future research should continue to examine this relationship pattern. Second, by connecting the study of media behaviors and
developmental theory, we call attention to a timely and fruitful avenue for the interdisciplinary study of developmental phenomena and media.
Keywords: adolescents, Facebook, imaginary audience, development, social networking sites

Due to the increasing popularity of social networking sites

such as Facebook, a growing amount of research is being
conducted on the use of social media technologies across
a variety of populations, including adolescents (Valkenburg
& Peter, 2008). For example, Valkenburg, Peter, and
Schouten (2006) found that the use of social networking
sites was related to increased friendships formed on the site
and, ultimately, adolescents social self-esteem and wellbeing. Additionally, in a longitudinal analysis of a slightly
older population, Steinfield, Ellison, and Lampe (2008)
found that Facebook use intensity in year one was strongly
related to social capital in year two; this was particularly
true for college students with lower self-esteem. Overall,
in a review of the literature, Valkenburg and Peter (2009)
note that Internet use, including use of social networking
sites, has a number of social consequences for
adolescents: increased social connectedness, relationship
quality, and general well-being. Additionally, Walrave,
Vanwesenbeeck, and Heirman (2012) found evidence for
the role that peer influence plays in adolescents use of
social networking site privacy settings. The present study
adds to the existing literature by examining the relationship
between Facebook use and the experience of the Imaginary
Audience (Elkind, 1967), which refers to the belief that
2014 Hogrefe Publishing

others are thinking about and judging you at all times.

While the term imagined audience has appeared with some
regularity in recent research on online interactions (e.g.,
Litt, 2012), it is important to note that we use the term to
refer to what has historically been seen as a developmental
variable.

Imaginary Audience
Imaginary audience is the belief, typically heightened during adolescence, that others are looking at and thinking
about you at almost all times. As argued by Lapsley and
colleagues (1989) in their reconceptualization of Elkinds
(1967) research, this construct serves as both an expression
of ones identity in relation to others and a wish to maintain
ties with others (see Lapsley & Rice, 1988; Lapsley et al.,
1989, for a review). In this new conceptualization, this construct of adolescent egocentrism is theoretically understood
as part of the separation-individuation process of adolescence, where children seek to balance their own needs from
those of their parents. Thus, while Imaginary Audience
ideation is a developmental consequence of cognitive
Journal of Media Psychology 2014; Vol. 26(4):155160
DOI: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000124

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

156

D. P. Cingel & M. Krcmar: Facebook and Imaginary Audience

advances, it can also be seen as developmentally functional,

allowing adolescents to strengthen ties with non-family
members while balancing existing familial connections.
Considering, then, the nature of Imaginary Audience
ideation, this aspect of adolescent development may be
linked with Facebook use because online social networking
is available to those whose cognitive and social development itself stresses the importance of social interaction
and the creation of ones personal identity. Audience characteristics as predictors of media use have been studied in
detail in previous literature (e.g., Walrave et al., 2012).
It is possible, however, that this relationship may exist
reciprocally as well that is, theoretically, Facebook use
may be related to audience characteristics. A growing body
of research has found support for reciprocal relationships
between media use and user characteristics (which can
include developmental stages). As Slater and colleagues
note, these statistical relationships can occur due to selective exposure, whereby individual differences influence
media choice, but they can also exist because media use
influences users (see Slater & Hayes, 2010; Slater, Henry,
Swaim, & Anderson, 2003). Such reciprocal relationships
have been found in social networking site environments
as well (Trepte & Reinecke, 2013). Therefore, in this study,
we sought to develop and connect developmental theory to
media research while examining the possible relationship
between media use and adolescents reports of Imaginary
Audience ideation. To do so, we applied developmental
theory to media use among children and adolescents.

Imaginary Audience and Facebook

Use
If we consider the experience of Imaginary Audience ideation as developmentally functional, it makes sense that
social networking sites such as Facebook would be used
by adolescents to make sense of their identity while also
maintaining ties with important others, such as parents
and friends. After all, Facebook provides a forum for adolescents to create an online self, experiment with that idea
of self (Valkenburg & Peter, 2008), and broadcast it to others outside the family network. Therefore, it is possible that
Facebook use is related to the developmental goals inherent
in adolescence. Additionally, however, it is also possible
that Imaginary Audience ideation is affected by Facebook
use, as users act toward, react to, and thereby reinforce, a
perceived Imaginary Audience.
For example, Burke, Marlow, and Lento (2009) found
that users of all ages added more content to their own pages
if they perceived that their friends posted a large amount of
content on their pages, suggesting the importance of
perceived norms on an online forum such as Facebook.
Similarly, Antheunis and Schouten (2011) found that adolescent Facebook users were judged as being more attractive if they had attractive Facebook friends, and if their
wall posts were generally positive in nature. These findings
are important, given that other research has found that users
will interpret the profiles of highly regarded others, seeking
Journal of Media Psychology 2014; Vol. 26(4):155160

to understand or craft their own self in ways that fit with the
normative beliefs of their Facebook community (McLaughlin & Vitak, 2012). Indeed, in a recent article on adolescent
use of social networking sites, Moreno (2010) notes key
attributes of Facebook, such as the perceived accuracy of
posted information among Facebook users, which causes
Facebook to act as what she calls a media super-peer, a
construction of all the normative beliefs within an online
community. This has been shown to influence the behaviors
of others. For example, Moreno and colleagues (2009)
found that adolescents interpret displays of alcohol use or
attitudes toward alcohol use posted on social networking
sites as the real thoughts and behaviors of others. Additionally, it has been argued that Facebook may be particularly
influential due to its combination of interpersonal and mass
communication (Fogg, 2008). It stands to reason then, and
was argued by Moreno et al. (2009), that these representations may cause users to alter their beliefs, such that their
beliefs come to match the normative beliefs of the online
community. In short, adolescents adapt their profiles, read
those of their friends, engage in comparison, and then
further adapt their profiles to fit in with the norms of the
community.
As in any setting, norms will change over time.
For example, Lampe, Ellison, and Steinfield (2008) found
that perceptions of Facebook changed over the course of
a 3-year period. If this is indeed the case, we argue, users
should act toward their perceptions of these norms, changing their behaviors and profile information as necessary.
Through this continual action toward and reactance to
norms, users will continue to experience Imaginary Audience ideation. It is possible to argue that adolescent
Facebook users know their Facebook friends, and thus this
perceived audience is not imaginary. While this is certainly
true, it is also likely that adolescents have no real way of
knowing who is attending to their profile page at any one
time. Considering the hundreds of friends that adolescents
typically have on their social networking site profiles, it
is unlikely that all, or even a majority, would attend to an
individual adolescents profile page at a certain time. In this
way, then, the audience that an adolescent perceives for
their profile certainly is imaginary. As self-consciousness
is a related, but conceptually different variable from
Imaginary Audience, it will be used as a control in all
analyses (see Lapsley et al., 1989).
Hypothesis 1 (H1): Controlling for self-consciousness
and age, overall Facebook use will be positively
related to Imaginary Audience.

Proposing a Mediator
More than simply examining the relationship between
Facebook use and the experience of Imaginary Audience
ideation, it is important to examine a possible mediator of
this relationship: behavioral rehearsal. Here, this term refers
to a process that individuals go through when considering
some change in their behaviors (Remondet, Hansson, Rule,
2014 Hogrefe Publishing

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

D. P. Cingel & M. Krcmar: Facebook and Imaginary Audience

& Winfrey, 1987). According to the model, individuals

compare with their behaviors to those of others, searching
for opportunities to change their actions. Next, individuals
think about how they can achieve the desired behavior
change that is, they mentally rehearse the behavior they
would like to achieve. Finally, after comparing themselves
with others and thinking about how to achieve the desired
behavior change, individuals act in such a way to produce
the desired change. Through the process of behavioral
rehearsal, research has shown that individuals are able to
effectively change behavior in premeditated ways
(Remondet et al., 1987). In the present study, we argue that
Facebook users engage in behavioral rehearsal on the site,
which is then related to Imaginary Audience ideation.
Specifically, on Facebook, users compare themselves
with others in their own social network (e.g., McLaughlin
& Vitak, 2012). If after comparing their profile with those
of close friends or acquaintances, a user perceives that something is lacking with their Facebook page, that it does not
adequately reflect the ideals, values, or beliefs that it should,
then theoretically, they will continue the process of behavioral rehearsal, moving to the cognition stage. For example,
using the findings of Moreno et al. (2009), we might conceive of Facebook users seeing pictures of alcohol consumption online. If they find their profile lacking in any respect,
they may think of ways they can reflect their alcohol beliefs
online to match these perceived values. This could perhaps
be by posting a photo of themselves with alcoholic beverage
in hand, if they have such a picture, which serves as a behavior change. If they have no such picture, however, an adolescent may in fact drink alcohol and upload pictures precisely
so that action is seen on Facebook, another form of behavior
change. Therefore, through behavioral rehearsal, adolescents can change their behavior for their online peers and
thus have fully acted toward, and reacted to, an online other.
In their doing so, we argue, the very act of moving through
this process would be related to Imaginary Audience ideation. Considering, however, the cross-sectional nature of
the present survey design, it is impossible to ascertain the
ordering of relationships in this mediation model. It is possible that Imaginary Audience serves as the mediator in the
relationship between Facebook use and behavioral rehearsal.
We believe, however, and present evidence that there is theoretical and empirical support for behavioral rehearsal serving as the mediator in the relationship between Facebook use
and Imaginary Audience. Therefore,
Hypothesis 2 (H2): Facebook behavioral rehearsal
scores will mediate the relationship between overall
Facebook use and Imaginary Audience scores.

Method

157

Taken together, 260 participants completed the survey

instrument. Females represented 57.7% (n = 150) of the
final sample; and 86.2% (n = 224) of the sample indicated
their race as White, 7.7% (N = 20) indicated their race as
African American, 2.7% (N = 7) indicated their race as
Hispanic/Latino, and 3.5% (N = 9) indicated their race as
Asian. The median age of all participants was 21
(M = 18.18, SD = 4.39).

Measures
Self-consciousness was measured using an adaptation of
the 23-item Fenigstein Self-Consciousness scale (Fenigstein
et al., 1975). Using data compiled during a pilot test of the
survey instrument, researchers took the four highest loading
items from each dimension, public self-consciousness (e.g.,
Im usually aware about my appearance) and private selfconsciousness (e.g., I think about myself a lot) to create
two 4-item measures. Pilot test participants were collegeaged students recruited from participating classrooms.
These participants completed an earlier version of the survey instrument used in the present study. Both the private
self-consciousness (r = .72, p < .01) and the public selfconsciousness scales (r = .60, p < .01) were strongly correlated to the original measure (1 = not at all like me, 4 =
a lot like me; M (public self-consciousness) = 2.78, SD =
0.75; M (private self-consciousness) = 2.67, SD = 0.73;
a (public self-consciousness) = .76, a (private selfconsciousness) = .70).
Facebook use was measured by asking participants to
report the amount of time they spent on Facebook each
day in minutes. Participants were asked to think of an average time while considering both weekdays and weekends
(M = 56.27, SD = 60.62).
Behavioral rehearsal was measured using a 10-item
scale developed by the research team using the characteristics of behavioral rehearsal outlined in the literature as a
template (Remondet et al., 1987). Sample items for each
category included I compare my Facebook page to the
Facebook pages of my friends, I think of Facebook
friending new acquaintances when I meet them for the
first time, and I sometimes do things just so I can post
about it on Facebook. This scale was measured on a
4-point Likert scale (1 = never, 4 = often; M = 1.52,
SD = 0.96, a = .94).
Imaginary Audience was measured using the 42-item
New Imaginary Audience Scale (Lapsley et al., 1989).
For example, participants were asked how often they think
about being rejected by a girlfriend or boyfriend, and
imagining what everyone will think if you became
famous (1 = never, 4 = often; M = 2.34, SD = 0.54,
a = .95).

Participants

Procedure

Participants ranged in age from 9 to 26 years, including

middle and high school aged adolescents, and young adults.

At the private elementary and middle school, the principal

was approached prior to data collection and asked to

2014 Hogrefe Publishing

Journal of Media Psychology 2014; Vol. 26(4):155160

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

158

D. P. Cingel & M. Krcmar: Facebook and Imaginary Audience

provide consent for members of the research team to recruit

students from the fourth through eighth grade classrooms.
One week prior to the researcher being in the school, a
parental recruitment letter and consent form was sent home
with each student in these grades. Teachers collected completed consent forms as they were returned, keeping track
of which students had brought one back (response
rate = 23.8%). On the day of data collection, these students
were asked to come to an empty classroom to complete the
survey. After assenting and completing the survey, each
participant handed in their survey and was thanked for
their time.
Additionally, parents whose children were in the appropriate age range (1017) were identified via a convenient
snowball sample and either given a packet containing a
recruitment letter, with a parental consent form, a child
assent form, and the survey instrument, or an online version
of these documents was sent to their e-mail address. Those
whose children completed a paper-and-pencil version of the
survey were given instructions for returning the survey and
necessary consent materials to a member of the research
team. Children and adolescents recruited via this method
received a $5 gift card in exchange for their participation.
College-aged participants were recruited from classrooms, which offered a nominal amount of extra credit
for completion. A member of the research team sent members of participating classes a recruitment e-mail with a link
to the online survey and consent forms. Noncollege and
adult participants were recruited via a snowball sample,
where contacted participants were asked to forward the
recruitment e-mail containing the online survey link to
friends and relatives.

Results
H1, which predicted that overall Facebook use would be
positively related to Imaginary Audience, was tested using
a hierarchical multiple regression. With Imaginary Audience as the dependent variable, self-consciousness
(b = .47, p = .001) and age (b = .08, p = ns) were
entered in Block 1 and together were significant, R = .52,
R2 = .27, F(2, 227) = 42.28, p < .001. Overall Facebook
use was entered in Block 2, resulting in a significant change
in R, DR2 = .04, DF(1, 226) = 12.02, p = .001; b = .21,
p = .001. Thus, overall Facebook use was positively related
to Imaginary Audience ideation, providing support for H1.
To test H2, which predicted that behavioral rehearsal
would mediate the relationship between overall Facebook
use and Imaginary Audience, mediation analysis was conducted using the Preacher and Hayes (2008) mediation
macro for SPSS. This bootstrapping procedure estimates a
95% confidence interval for whether the indirect effect of
the independent variable on the dependent variable via
the mediator is significant; if the interval does not include
zero, there is a significant indirect effect. First, age and
self-consciousness were entered as control variables. Next,
overall Facebook use was entered as the independent
Journal of Media Psychology 2014; Vol. 26(4):155160

Overall
Facebook
Usage

.20**

Imaginary
Audience

Behavioral
Rehearsal
Overall
Facebook
Usage

.38**

.39**

Imaginary
Audience

.06

Figure 1. Mediating effect of behavioral rehearsal.

Reported coefficients are standardized beta weights.
**p < .001.

variable, behavioral rehearsal was entered as the proposed

mediating variable, and Imaginary Audience was entered
as the dependent variable. It is important to note that the
reported coefficients are unstandardized, which accounts
for the differences between these reported results and those
presented in Figure 1. Results indicated a significant
relationship between the independent variable, Facebook
use, and the dependent variable, Imaginary Audience (total
effect = .002, p < .01). This relationship became nonsignificant, however, when the proposed mediating variable was
entered into the model (direct effect of Facebook
use = .001, p = .26). In contrast, the direct effects of the
independent variable (Facebook use) on the mediating variable (behavioral rehearsal) (direct effect = .01, p < .01)
and of the mediating variable on the dependent variable
(Imaginary Audience) (direct effect = .21, p < .01) were
both significant. A 1,000-sample bootstrap analysis indicated a bias-corrected 95% confidence interval of .0007
to .0020. The absence of zero in this interval indicates
support for the indirect effect of the mediating variable,
behavioral rehearsal, being significantly different from zero
(Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Thus, controlling for age and
self-consciousness, behavioral rehearsal fully mediated the
relationship between overall Facebook use and Imaginary
Audience, providing support for H2. For a visual representation of this relationship, please see Figure 1.

Discussion
Overall, results indicated that Facebook use was positively
related to Imaginary Audience ideation, an important
finding for the study of media use and adolescent
development. Additionally, we were able to find support
for behavioral rehearsal as a mediator in this relationship.
Specifically, Facebook use was positively related to behavioral rehearsal, which, in turn, was positively related to
Imaginary Audience ideation. As noted previously, considering the cross-sectional data used in the present study, it is
not possible to draw causal conclusions between Facebook
2014 Hogrefe Publishing

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

D. P. Cingel & M. Krcmar: Facebook and Imaginary Audience

use and Imaginary Audience or to be certain of the ordering

of relationships.
These results, however, do indicate a general relationship between media use and user characteristics. Given that
the adolescents and emerging adults in our sample generally reported similar levels of Imaginary Audience, it is
possible that they selectively exposed themselves to social
networking sites to fill a developmental need. Thus, user
characteristics possibly influenced media use. As argued
by Slater and colleagues (Slater & Hayes, 2010; Slater,
Henry, Swaim, & Anderson, 2003), however, once use is
initiated, reciprocal relationships can occur. Here, after
likely selectively exposing themselves to social networking
sites, adolescents may spend more time on the site, and
engage in behavioral rehearsal. The current results indicate
that use and behavioral rehearsal are positively related to
Imaginary Audience ideation. Overall, it is clear that adolescent development plays an important role in adolescents
use of social networking sites and the possible consequences of such use.
It is important for a number of reasons, then, to consider
developmental phenomena in future research. First, with
the sheer number of children and adolescents on Facebook,
as well as the vast amount of time that many of them spend
using it, it is important to consider the role that Facebook
might play not only in their daily life, but developmentally
as well. This may have serious implications for the future,
as children around the world begin to use social media in
greater numbers and at earlier ages. Second, given the findings presented here, it is important to consider how media
use is related to developmental concerns, as well as the
reciprocal relationship: How development is related to
media use. While some studies have begun to examine
the relationship between development and media use
(e.g., Valkenburg & Peter, 2008), fewer have examined
the relationship between media use and development. Overall, we have worked to extend developmental theory into a
new domain new media research; found support for the
reciprocal relationship between media use and adolescent
developmental characteristics; and offered a mediating theoretical mechanism to explain this relationship. We believe
this is an important, timely, and fruitful avenue for the
interdisciplinary study of developmental phenomena and
media.

Limitations and Future Research

The main limitations of the study arose from its use of
cross-sectional data, which limited our ability to draw causal inferences. Although we believe that theory and previous results support the ordering of relationships between
Facebook use and Imaginary Audience, via the mediator
of behavioral rehearsal, other versions of this model are
plausible as well. Indeed, it is plausible that those high in
Imaginary Audience ideation are drawn to use Facebook
more each day. Through longitudinal designs, future
research should consider these relationships in more detail,
to provide a better understanding regarding the directionality
of these relationships. Additionally, although efforts were
2014 Hogrefe Publishing

159

made to diversify the sample, especially in terms of geography, educational background, and race, the majority of the
sample was White and not representative in nature. Although
we could not detect any differences between individuals who
completed a paper-and-pencil survey and those who completed an online survey, it is possible that these differences
in data collection may have been problematic. At the very
least, participants self-selected into the survey, and no
response rate is available for those who completed the survey
online.
The findings of this research study, however, point
toward a number of new avenues for the study of Facebook
use. First, a longitudinal examination of the relationship
between Facebook use and any number of developmental
variables would be beneficial to the academic community.
While the results of this study do suggest that Facebook use
might be related to a developmental phenomenon, it would
be helpful to examine these changes over time while also
measuring other possible predictor variables. Finally, in
the present paper, we were unable to consider the relationship of the individual processes of behavior rehearsal on
Imaginary Audience ideation. Future research should examine these three processes in more detail to better understand
if they influence Imaginary Audience in similar patterns.

References
Antheunis, M. L., & Schouten, A. P. (2011). The effects of
other-generated and system generated cues on adolescents
perceived attractiveness on social networking sites. Journal
of Computer-Mediated Communication, 16(3), 391406.
doi: 10.1111/j.10836101.2011.01545.x
Burke, M., Marlow, C., & Lento, T. (2009). Feed me:
Motivating newcomer contribution in social network sites.
In Proceedings of the 27th Annual SIGCHI Conference
on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 945954).
New York: ACM.
Elkind, D. (1967). Egocentrism in adolescence. Child Development, 38(4), 10251034.
Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M. F., & Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and
private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal
of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43(4), 522527.
doi: 10.1037/h0076760
Fogg, B. J. (2008). Mass interpersonal persuasion: An early
view of a new phenomenon. In H. Oinas-Kukkonen,
P. Hasle, M. Harjumaa, K. Segersthl, & P. hrstrm
(Eds.), Proceedings of the Third International Conference
on Persuasive Technology (pp. 3546). Berlin: Springer.
Lampe, C., Ellison, N. B., & Steinfield, C. (2008). Changes in
use and perception of Facebook. In Proceedings of the 2008
ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative
Work (pp. 721730). New York: ACM. doi: 10.1145/
1460563.1460675
Lapsley, D. K., FitzGerald, D. P., Rice, K. G., & Jackson, S.
(1989). Separation individuation and the new look at the
imaginary audience and personal fable: A test of an
integrative model. Journal of Adolescent Research, 4(4),
483505. doi: 10.1177/074355488944006
Lapsley, D. K., & Rice, K. G. (1988). The new look at the
imaginary audience and personal fable: Toward a general
model of adolescent ego development. In D. K. Lapsley &
F. C. Power (Eds.), Self, ego, and identity: Integrative
approaches (pp. 109129). New York: Springer.
Journal of Media Psychology 2014; Vol. 26(4):155160

This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

160

D. P. Cingel & M. Krcmar: Facebook and Imaginary Audience

Litt, E. (2012). Knock, Knock. Whos there? The Imagined

Audience. Journal of Electronic and Broadcasting Media,
56(3), 330345. doi: 10.1080/08838151.2012.705195
McLaughlin, C., & Vitak, J. (2012). Norm evolution and
violation on Facebook. New Media & Society, 14(2),
299315. doi: 10.1177/1461444811412712
Moreno, M. (2010). Social networking sites and adolescents.
Pediatric Annals, 39, 565568. doi: 10.3928/0090448120100825-07
Moreno, M. A., Briner, L. R., Williams, A., Walker, L., &
Christakis, D. A. (2009). Real use o real cool: Adolescents speak out about displayed alcohol references on social
networking websites. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45,
420422. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.04.015
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and
resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect
effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research
Methods, 40, 879891. doi: 10.3758/BRM.40.3.879
Remondet, J. H., Hansson, R. O., Rule, B., & Winfrey, G.
(1987). Rehearsal for widowhood. Journal of Social and
Clinical Psychology, 5(3), 285297.
Slater, M. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2010). The influence of youth
music television viewership on changes in cigarette use and
association with smoking peers: A social identity, reinforcing spiral perspective. Communication Research, 37(6),
751773. doi: 10.1177/0093650210375953
Slater, M. D., Henry, K. L., Swaim, R. C., & Anderson, L. L.
(2003). Violent media content and aggressiveness in
adolescents: A downward spiral model. Communication
Research, 30(6), 713736. doi: 10.1177/0093650203258281
Steinfield, C., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2008). Social
capital, self-esteem, and the use of online social networking
sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(6), 434445. doi: 10.1016/
j.appdev.2008.07.002
Trepte, S., & Reinecke, L. (2013). The reciprocal effects of
social network site use and the disposition for self-disclosure: A longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior,
29(3), 11021112. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2012.10.002
Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2008). Adolescents identity
experiments on the Internet: Consequences for social
competence and self-concept unity. Communication
Research, 35(2), 208231. doi: 10.1177/0093650207313164
Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2009). Social consequences
of the Internet for adolescents: A decade of research.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(1), 15.
doi: 0.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01595.x

Journal of Media Psychology 2014; Vol. 26(4):155160

Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend

networking sites and their relationship to adolescents wellbeing and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behavior,
9(5), 584590. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2006.9.584
Walrave, M., Vanwesenbeeck, I., & Heirman, W. (2012).
Connecting and protecting? Comparing predictors of selfdisclosure and privacy settings use between adolescents and
adults. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research
on Cyberspace, 6(1). Article 3. doi: 10.5817/CP2012-1-3

Date of acceptance: March 14, 2014

Published online: October 31, 2014

Drew Cingel (M.A., Wake Forest University) is a third-year PhD student in the
Media, Technology, and Society program
at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
His areas of research include adolescentpeer relationships, and peer influence, on
social networking sites, childrens learning from tablet computers, and the impact
of television on childrens moral reasoning. His work has been published in
journals such as New Media & Society and
Media Psychology.

Drew P. Cingel
School of Communication
Northwestern University
2240 Campus Drive
2147 Frances Searle Bldg
Evanston, IL 60208
USA
Tel. +1 (847) 467-2084
E-mail drewc@u.northwestern.edu

Marina Krcmar (PhD, University of

Wisconsin-Madison) is an associate professor at Wake Forest University. Her research focuses on children, adolescents,
and the media. Her current research
examines the effect of violent video
games on adolescents and the effect of
videos targeting infants (e.g., Baby Einstein) on preverbal children. Her research
has appeared in Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research,
Media Psychology, Communication Research, and other journals. Her book,
Living Without the Screen, was recently
published by Routledge.

2014 Hogrefe Publishing