Trajectories of excessive Internet use in families

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Rudolf Kammerl; Professor Dr. Lutz Wartberg
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions ; Communication Sciences
• Term: since 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 269322449

Excessive use of the Internet, video games and social media is receiving increasing attention as a phenomenon and is investigated empirically by various scientific disciplines. Results of international studies confirm associations with family factors. The VEIF project is one of the few longitudinal studies that describes these relationships from the perspective of adolescents and their parents. Accordingly, the focus of the VEIF study is on the trajectories of excessive use of the Internet, video games and social media by adolescents with special consideration of the family. For this purpose, adolescents and parents were interviewed in a panel study annually between 2016 and 2021. With the requested continuation, we want to extend the panel study by two years in order to be able to examine the development into early adulthood. With increasing age, the extension will consider the growing importance of peer relationships and transitions from school to work or college, in addition to the role of the family. To develop suitable prevention, diagnosis and intervention methods our society needs more detailed knowledge about the trajectories of the excessive use of Internet, video games and social media. The VEIF study intends to contribute to the basic research required for this purpose. Using quantitative methods, we will collect data over a total of 96 months, which will provide information about the problem, its development and the influence of the adolescent's family. The following questions are central: At what age and for what reasons do adolescents begin to use the Internet, video games or social media excessively? When and under what conditions does this decrease? What impact has the family on individual development? How does the impact of family and the perceived quality of life change towards the end of adolescence? What impact has excessive use of Internet, video game and social media on the transition from school to vocational training or college? How did the Covid 19 pandemic change digital media use?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants