Michel Walrave

University of Antwerp | UA · Department of Communication Studies

Although adolescent sexting often takes place within the context of adolescents' romantic relationships, little is known about how the behavior is associated with their relationship perceptions. This study addresses this gap in the research by focusing on the associations between adolescents' engagement in sexting and their perceptions of intimacy,...

It is common nowadays for parents to share information about their children on social network sites (SNSs). However, little is known on how adolescents think and feel about this sharenting behavior. Therefore, this study explores adolescents' perception of the reasons why parents share information about their adolescent children on SNSs, and adoles...

To diminish the risk of spreading COVID-19 as society exits the lockdowns, several apps have been developed for contact tracing. These apps register which users have been in proximity of each other. If a user is diagnosed with COVID-19, app users who have been recently in proximity to this person are notified. The effectiveness of these apps highly...

Both adolescents and adults use mobile applications to engage in conversations, expand their social networks, and, for some, engage in romantic relationships. While mobile ap plications offer a range of opportunities for maintaining and expanding one's social circle, some users are confronted with forms of aggression. This chapter reviews the scien...

Purpose Since buying slow fashion can be both a rational choice and socially reactive behavior, this study adopts the prototype willingness model to predict Flemish young adults’ slow fashion consumption. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was administered to consumers aged 18–25 years old ( N = 264). Confirmatory factor analysis and str...

This study is the first qualitative examination of the prototype willingness model (PWM), which includes both rational and socially reactive decision-making processes, in the context of eco-friendly behaviour. In total, 33 individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with Flemish young adults between 18 and 25 years to explore how the construc...

Influencer advertising on Instagram effectively brings products to the attention of young, engaged audiences. Though brands often select Instagram influencers with green expertise for eco-friendly product endorsements, this study argues that generic lifestyle influencers are also suitable endorsers, expanding the reach to wider, more diverse young...

Adolescents are currently the most digitally connected generation in history. There is an ever-growing need to understand how typical adolescent risk-taking intersects with the vastly criminogenic potential of digital technology. Criminal hacking in older adolescents (16–19-year-olds) was assessed using an adapted Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)...

Meaningfulness in a digital game context originates from the introduction of the notion of eudaimonia through psychology (Huta & Waterman, 2014) and media entertainment research (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010). Eudaimonia stems from Aristotelian philosophy and describes that, to live a good life, individuals should focus on worthwhile aspects of life, exe...

Sexting concerns the act of sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages or photos (i.e., ‘sexts’) through electronic means. When sexts are received or forwarded without the consent of the original sender, this is called non-consensual sexting. Our study set out to increase our understanding as to why individuals engage in non-conse...

Background Sharenting, parents’ sharing of personal information about children on social media is becoming increasingly controversial. Its potential risks have drawn some parents to engage in mindful sharenting: parents’ application of strategies to reduce the potentially negative effects of sharenting, as they are aware of the impact sharenting ca...

Eudaimonia (i.e., orienting toward or experiencing meaning, virtue, personal growth, and other worthwhile aspects of life) has recently received a great deal of academic interest in the field of media entertainment, especially for the medium of digital games. While a recent scoping review has improved the conceptual clarity on what constitutes euda...

Eudaimonia (i.e., orienting towards or experiencing meaning, virtue, personal growth, and other worthwhile aspects of life) has recently received a great deal of academic interest in the field of media entertainment, especially for the medium of digital games. While a recent scoping review has improved the conceptual clarity on what constitutes eud...

Feelings of dissatisfaction with the political status quo are believed to mobilize citizens into non-institutional political action, such as protest. Still, little is known about whether and how political participation through social media provide an alternative voicing route for discontented citizens. Guided by grievance theory, this article asses...

Sharenting, the practice whereby parents disclose information about their children on social media, is ubiquitous in our digital society. Even though grandparents take on a considerable role in their grandchildren’s lives and use social media, little is known about grandparents’ sharenting behavior (i.e., grandsharenting). This study explores grand...

This entry provides an introduction to Rogers's protection motivation theory. While originally established as a theoretical framework concentrating on the promotion of behavioral change, the theory has since been recognized as a persuasive communication theory often used within health communication. When a fearful message is perceived, individuals...

This paper aims to determine the prevalence of the use of online neighborhood networks (ONNs) and explores which socio-demographic, socioeconomic status (SES), social integration, and media use determinants predict ONN membership and uses. Drawing on a stratified random sample (Ghent, Belgium), we found that over a third of the population are ONN m...

Purpose – In the context of integrated promotion, it is essential to promote destination images consistently across multiple digital channels. This study aims to examine the consistency of online destination images projected through the official tourism websites and the Instagram accounts of five main destinations in Southeast Asia. Design/methodol...

Human resource (HR) professionals who assess job candidates may engage in cybervetting, the collection and analysis of applicants’ personal information available on social network sites (SNS). This raises important questions about the privacy of job applicants. In this study, interviews were conducted with 24 HR professionals from profit and govern...

Parents sharing information about their children on social network sites (SNSs) (i.e., sharenting) is common today. However, previous work confronting parents’ and adolescents’ views on sharenting and related privacy concerns is limited. Therefore, the present study scrutinizes parents’ motives for sharenting and adolescents’ attitudes toward share...

State of the Art Digital games have evolved in the last fifteen years from providing users with pleasure and enjoyment (e.g., Sherry, 2004) towards a medium that is able to give players deeper, thought-provoking, and more emotional experiences (Bowman, 2019; Hemenover & Bowman, 2018). In line with this evolution, academic research is increasingly e...

Sexting – een digitale vorm van seksuele communicatie

Background: In several countries, contact tracing apps (CTAs) have been introduced to warn users if they have had high-risk contacts that could expose them to SARS-CoV-2 and therefore could develop COVID-19 or further transmit the virus. For CTAs to be effective, sufficient critical mass of users is needed. Until now, adoption of these apps in sev...

This study employs the O-S-R-OR framework to examine how multi-platform news consumption is associated with civic participation during the COVID-19 pandemic (offline and via social media) and how this relation is mediated by civic talk and civic attitudes. A survey was administered to 1500 adults in Belgium. Results from structural equation modelli...

BACKGROUND Smartwatches with an electrocardiography (ECG)-application, which are able to detect cardiac arrhythmias, can be important tools for healthcare. These devices are easy to use, collect valuable health data and fit inside many people’s daily routines. Although health wearables offer many benefits, adoption rates are lagging. Few studies on...

It often remains unclear how young citizens are combining various forms of political participation , as well as why they choose some over others, especially within a single-issue movement. Moreover, little is known about how social networking sites (SNS) fit into the political repertoires of citizens. Therefore, this study explores youths' politica...

Met deze studie trachtten we in kaart te brengen hoe jonge Belgische burgers deelnemen aan verschillende vormen van politieke participatie, zoals het bijwonen van gemeenteraden, protesteren of het delen van een politieke post op sociale media. Daarom werd een online survey verspreid onder 720 jongeren. De resultaten tonen aan hoe zij op diverse man...

Preliminary findings from as study among Belgian young adults (n = 720). In the study, electoral exit behaviour is assesses and linked to various forms of political participation (protest participation, institutional participation and SNS participation). In addition, attitudes of discontent (distrust, populism and political hopelessness) are linked...

BACKGROUND In several countries, contact tracing apps (CTAs) have been introduced to warn users if they have had high-risk contacts that could expose them to SARS-CoV-2 and could, therefore, develop COVID-19 or further transmit the virus. For CTAs to be effective, a sufficient critical mass of users is needed. Until now, adoption of these apps in s...

Individual internet users are commonly considered the weakest links in the cybersecurity chain. One reason for this is that they tend to be overoptimistic regarding their own online safety. To gain a better understanding of the cognitive processes involved in this assessment, the current study applies an extended version of the protection motivatio...

The present study aims to shed light on the different types of civic participation that emerged after the COVID-19 outbreak. Specifically, we assess how different news use patterns (or news repertoires) are associated with various forms of civic participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was distributed among Flemish adults, using...

Purpose Following the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many forms of bottom-up civic action emerged as ways to collectively “flatten the curve” and tackle the crisis. In this paper, the authors examine to what extent local online and offline social integration contributes to civic participation, above and beyond typical predictors s...

Even though the dark number is especially high for cybercrimes, it is unclear by whom and to whom cybercrime is reported. Therefore, this study will answer the following questions: (1) who reports cybercrime incidents, and (2) to whom do victims report cybercrime? Analyses based on survey data including 334 recent cybercrime victims, indicate that...

Cyberbullying victimization is associated with mental health problems and reported to occur more in nonheterosexual orientation youth (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ)) than among heterosexual youth. Parental support may protect against mental health problems after being victimized, but nonsupportive parental influences may also exace...

Background: Sexting is an increasingly common phenomenon among adolescents and young adults. Some studies have investigated the role of personality traits in different sexting behaviors within mainstream personality taxonomies like Big Five and HEXACO. However, very few studies have investigated the role of maladaptive personality factors in sexti...

This study investigates the main and interaction effects of valence and reviewers’ expertise on behavioral intentions within the context of a hotel on Tripadvisor.com. A 2 (positive vs negative review valence) x 2 (high number vs low number of reviews) factorial design experiment was conducted to assess relations among the variables. The result of...

In recent years, changes have occurred not only in how citizens engage in political life, but also in what they engage (Ekström & Sveningsson, 2019). Scholars have drawn attention to the fluid, personalized and creative forms of political participation that are often enabled by social media (Theocharis, 2015). In addition, the emergence of single i...

Social media have expanded citizens' political repertoires with new modes of action. To measure these changing political practices, a new instrument, called the Social Media Political Participation Scale was developed and psychometrically tested. The instrument aims to capture both active, expressive forms of political action through social media a...

Social support is a prominent factor in mental health etiology. According to the social support deterioration model, exposure to chronic stressors may over time erode people's social support, thereby contributing to increases in mental health issues. Although there is mounting evidence indicating the beneficial consequences of online social support...

Emerging research has suggested that digital games can generate entertainment experiences beyond hedonic enjoyment towards eudaimonic experiences: Being emotionally moved, stimulated to reflect on one’s self or a sense of elevation. Studies in this area have mainly focused on individual game characteristics that elicit singular and static eudaimoni...

Background Prescription stimulants such as methylphenidate are usually prescribed to treat attention deficit (and hyperactivity) disorders (ADHD). Recently, these drugs have gained popularity among college students, because of the belief that they can help improve academic performance. Objectives This study assessed whether engaging in nonmedical...

Some adolescents use social media platforms, such as Instagram, for sexualized self-presentation, which includes posting images in which someone is scarcely dressed, has a sexy gaze or in which sexual willingness is suggested. These behaviors could be a first step towards sexting. Given that adolescents are highly influenced by peer perceptions, th...

Research on the sexting experiences of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) youth is limited. Prior work often does not measure problematic forms of sexting, such as the unauthorized forwarding of sexting images. Furthermore, previous studies did typically not include contextual variables that could provide a better understanding of the behaviors. This...

Personalization is about conveying the right message at the right time to the right person. Since the beginning of trade, offline sellers already establish personalized experiences by learning things about their loyal customers (i.e., name, preferences), and by implementing this knowledge in interactions with them (i.e., call them by name, offer pe...

Introduction Gender minority adolescents, such as transgender, gender nonconforming, gender diverse and non‐binary youth, may face unique challenges with regard to online sexual communication. They may be especially vulnerable for sexting‐related risks. The aim of this study is to explore the sexting experiences of gender minority youth among a sch...

Digital media have gained an important place in young people's lives. More particularly, social media are used by adolescents to interact with friends and to expand their social circle. Within adolescents' unfolding romantic lives, social media are also intensively used. Adolescents may engage in sexting, the exchange of sexually explicit digital m...

The literature has advocated the use of a clear and unambiguous label to inform adolescents of advertisements on social media. In this study, we introduce a norm-based label and determine its effects. In a series of three studies, we test a label that triggers the bandwagon heuristic (i.e., “your friends know this is sponsored”) and compare its eff...

Purpose This study aims to investigate the development of adolescents’ advertising literacy and privacy protection strategies in the context of targeted advertisements on social networking sites (SNSs). Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted among 374 adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age, and 469 young adults (18–25 years) served...

Sexting has been defined as sharing sexually suggestive content (i.e., sexts) via Internet or smartphone. To date, only a few studies investigated the role of personality traits in relation to sending or receiving sexts, and most of them used the Five Factor Model of Personality. No studies applied the theoretical model of HEXACO six personality tr...

This study evaluated the performance of the official tourism Twitter accounts of the four major tourist destinations in Southeast Asia namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. By using a data analytical software, the study collected data related to the number of tweets, number of interactions, engagement rate, number of followers, numb...

This study evaluated the performance of the official tourism Twitter accounts of the four major tourist destinations in Southeast Asia namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. By using a data analytical software, the study collected data related to the number of tweets, number of interactions, engagement rate, number of followers, numb...

El sexting es una de las prácticas a través de la que los jóvenes exploran su sexualidad. Aunque se recomienda responder educativamente a todas las formas en las que se puede expresar este fenómeno, en España, se ha publicado poca investigación que analice su prevalencia diferenciando los distintos tipos de comportamientos de sexting: envío, recepc...

De verspreiding van het coronavirus stelt ons voor de nodige uitdagingen, dit zowel op persoonlijk als op maatschappelijk vlak. Dit rapport beschrijft de resultaten van een survey-onderzoek, uitgevoerd bij 7146 Vlaamse gebruikers van het online buurtnetwerk Hoplr. Specifiek trachtten we met dit onderzoek burgerparticipatie en sociale steun tijdens...

BACKGROUND To diminish the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus, apps have been developed that trace contacts with COVID-19-infected individuals and warn individuals who are at risk of having contracted the virus. However, the effectiveness of these apps highly depends on their uptake by the population. OBJECTIVE The present study investigated fac...

Background: To diminish the risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus, apps have been developed that trace contacts with COVID-19-infected individuals and warn individuals who are at risk of having contracted the virus. However, the effectiveness of these apps highly depends on their uptake by the population. Objective: The present study investigated...

Elevation is an eudaimonic experience that consists of heartwarming and uplifting feelings when witnessing kindness, altruism, sacrifice, or other virtues. While eudaimonic media entertainment research primarily focuses on traditional media such as movies, a limited number of recent studies look at eudaimonic game experiences, especially among adol...

The eudaimonic experience of elevation consists of heartwarming and uplifting feelings when witnessing acts of kindness, altruism, sacrifice, or other human virtues. While entertainment research primarily focuses on traditional media such as movies and general eudaimonic experiences, limited research has been conducted regarding digital games and e...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of five highly relevant advertiser- (i.e. personalization and ad placement) and consumer-controlled (i.e. privacy concerns, perceived relevance and Facebook motives) factors in the evaluation and perceived outcomes of personalized Facebook advertising as well as how these factors interrelate. Design/...

Sexting, herein defined as the sending of self-made sexually explicit images, is a modern-day form of sexual communication. This review discusses recent findings in sexting research among (young) adults. We find that despite its risks, sexting is increasingly used within dating and romantic relationships and can carry different meanings depending o...

Background The vast differences in sampling techniques, cultural contexts between international studies, the differences in age groups of the samples and various definitions used to measure sexting make it hard to compare how sexting behaviour has evolved over the past years. This exploratory study aims to address this critical gap in the research...

Research shows that media entertainment can induce eudaimonic or meaningful experiences, such as being emotionally moved or being stimulated to reflect about oneself. While these studies have primarily focused on adults’ eudaimonic media entertainment experiences, the current study explores whether games can lead to eudaimonic experiences amongst a...

GOAL: Within the field of positive media psychology, research on eudaimonic media entertainment posits that both non-interactive (e.g., movies, TV series) and interactive media (e.g., digital games) have the potential to elicit emotionally moving, reflective, socially connecting or elevating experiences (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010; Oliver, Hartmann, &...

An important portion of internet users have faced cybercrime in recent years. One successful strategy for dealing with cybercrime victimization is to seek social support. However, previous studies showed that only a limited number of victims reaches out to family or friends to ask for help after a cybercrime incident. The current study sought to ga...

Purpose: This study aims to gain more insight into the prevalence and associations of transactional sexting, which refers to the sending of self-made sexually explicit images or videos in exchange for something else. Methods: A survey was conducted among 2,626 high school students (n = 1,530 girls; 58.4% female) aged between 14 and 21 years (M =...

In deze bijdrage wordt dieper ingaan op de link tussen armoede en slachtofferschap van cybercriminaliteit. We focussen hiervoor onder meer op angst voor cybercriminaliteit, online activiteiten en de digitale skills die de kwetsbaarheid in de online omgeving kunnen beïnvloeden. Door meer inzage te krijgen in de link tussen die verschillende factoren...

Online dating brings together strangers in an environment which often lacks real-time physical cues.This inexistence of a shared physical context gives people the opportunity to take advantage of the existing anonymity in online dating platforms and to claim identities as they like. The link between the online and offline identity is addressed by t...

Structural equation modeling is applied to investigate how parents’ communication with their child about his or her Internet use is linked to the child’s acceptance of parental authority in the context of Internet use, and how this in turn is linked to the child’s social media behavior. This study surveyed children aged 13 to 18 and their mothers a...

Introduction. Bystanders in cyberbullying may play a crucial role in reducing cyberbullying’s harm for victims. This study assessed bystander responses, and the associations with adolescent victims’ emotional reactions to cyberbullying and victims’ mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress; suicidal ideation). Methods. A to...

Promoting a risky destination image: Assessing Indonesia's official tourism website This study investigated the impact of the official tourism website of Indonesia (a risky destination), on image, risk, and intention to visit. Additionally, the impact of the persuasiveness of the website's design on attitude toward the website was also examined. A...

Purpose: Although research on adolescent sexting-the sending of self-made sexually explicit pictures through digital media-has increased in recent years, prior studies have primarily focused on older youth and the act of sending of such images. Little is known about the experiences of early adolescent sexual minority youth, who might be particular...

Adolescents' perceptions of digital media's potential to elicit jealousy, conflict and monitoring behaviors within romantic relationships. Abstract Understanding the role of digital media in adolescents' romantic relationships is essential to the prevention of digital dating violence. This study focuses on adolescents' perceptions of the impact of...

Research shows that media entertainment can induce meaningful experiences, such as being emotionally moved or being stimulated to reflect about oneself. While these studies have primarily focused on traditional entertainment media (such as movies) and adults, the current study explores whether games can lead to eudaimonic or meaningful experiences...

In the field of media studies, researchers can focus on a number of different aspects: motivations for media use, effects of media exposure, and the media content itself. Focusing on the latter, a content analysis can objectively, systematically, and quantitatively describe the manifest content of media messages (Berelson, 1952). However, another a...

This entry gives an overview of the different risks both minors and adults can encounter online. A distinction is made between aggression risks (e.g., cyberbullying, cyberstalking), sexual risks (e.g., online pornography, sexting), value‐related risks (e.g., pro‐anorexia sites), and commercial risks (e.g., phishing, gambling). For each risk, preval...

Nowadays, children are confronted with a considerable amount of advertising, not only through traditional media channels, but also through a wide range of (new) digital formats such as advergames, social media advertising, and product placements. This raises the important issue of whether children are able to critically recognize and understand the...

Adolescent sexting remains an important public health issue because of the potential for psychosocial and legal consequences. This article briefly reviews the current state of the science of adolescent sexting research. It serves as an up-to-date and data-driven resource to school nurses and school staff to help augment understanding and facilitate...

Introduction While adolescent sexting, or the sending of sexually explicit images, has been cross‐sectionally associated with bullying and cyberbullying, there is a lack of longitudinal studies in this area. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the longitudinal link between sexting and 1) traditional, in‐person, bullying victimization...

Little is known about parents' motivations to engage in Internet mediation nor about how parents may influence each other's Internet mediation practices. The present study uses triadic data, with reports from the mother, the father, and the adolescent child from the same family (N = 357). Structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied for testing th...