The Opportunities and Challenges of Digital Media Use for Sexually and Gender Diverse Adolescents

Autor(en)
Chelly Maes, Kathrin Karsay, Edward John Noon
Abstrakt

Digital media can have significant implications for the identity development and overall well-being of sexually and gender diverse (SGD) adolescents. Indeed, the existing literature has identified three forms of digital media use that can play a crucial role in SGD adolescents’ lives: social media use, sending and receiving sexually explicit messages (i.e., sexting), and viewing pornographic content online. This chapter discusses these different digital media uses, and reflects on how unique affordances (e.g., anonymity, accessibility, and asynchrony) enable SGD adolescents to gratify their needs for identity exploration, community-building, and romantic and social relationship initiation/maintenance. However, research has also found that digital media can expose SGD adolescents to harmful content and negative experiences, including sexual coercion, grooming, and cyberbullying. As such, this chapter also provides an overview of the challenges and risks associated with SGD adolescents’ use of digital media. After elaborating on these different experiences, this chapter explores the overall well-being outcomes (e.g., life satisfaction) of digital media use by SGD adolescents. Finally, this chapter concludes by outlining gaps in the existing literature and offering suggestions for future research.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Externe Organisation(en)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Antwerp, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leeds Trinity University
Seiten
92-101
Anzahl der Seiten
10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003479055-11
Publikationsdatum
01-2025
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Allgemeine Sozialwissenschaften, Allgemeine Psychologie
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/7d254fda-336d-48e9-be5c-4259955cac19