Blogging relieves teens of social anxiety
January 5th, 2012 - 5:09 pm ICT by IANSTel Aviv, Jan 5 (IANS) Blogging could relieve teenagers from social anxiety, improve their self-esteem and help them relate better to their friends, says a study.
Maintaining a blog has a stronger positive outcome on troubled students’ well-being than merely expressing their social anxieties and concerns in private diaries.
“Research has shown that writing… (is) a great way to release emotional distress and just feel better,” said researcher Meyran Boniel-Nissim, University of Haifa, Israel, who led the study.
“Teens are online anyway, so blogging enables free expression and easy communication with others,” added Bonie-Nissim, the journal Psychological Services reported.
“Although cyberbullying and online abuse are extensive and broad, we noted that almost all responses to our participants’ blog messages were supportive and positive in nature,” said study co-author Azy Barak, according to a university statement.
Researchers randomly surveyed 161 high school students in Israel, 124 girls and 37 boys, with an average age of 15, because they had some level of social anxiety or distress.
Self-esteem, social anxiety, emotional distress and the number of positive social behaviours improved significantly for the bloggers when compared to teens who did nothing and wrote private diaries.
Bloggers who were instructed to write specifically about their difficulties and whose blogs were open to comments improved the most. All of these results were consistent at the two month follow-up.
- Cyberstalking more traumatic than physical harassment - Aug 07, 2011
- Self-esteem rises as people age but starts declining around retirement - Apr 02, 2010
- Youngsters prefer self-esteem over sex, money - Jan 07, 2011
- Obese girls show greater poise when happy with their shape - Apr 30, 2012
- Facebook generates feel good factor - Jun 27, 2012
- Young People Crave Self-Esteem More Than Sex, Researchers Say - Jan 12, 2011
- Obese people 'more likely to have mental health problems' - Jan 25, 2011
- Higher income, better health key to self-esteem - Apr 02, 2010
- Mindfulness helps women deliver healthier babies - Aug 03, 2012
- Kids with emotional difficulties at increased adult obesity risk - Sep 11, 2009
- Looking attractive propels people to buy cosmetics - Jul 22, 2011
- Facebook can boost self-esteem: Study - Mar 06, 2011
- Undeserved self-praise can lead to dejection - Oct 20, 2011
- Acne is more than a nuisance for some adolescents - Mar 16, 2011
- Strong hearts help kids secure higher grades - Aug 05, 2012
Tags: azy, bloggers, co author, cyberbullying, emotional distress, free expression, haifa, high school students, nissim, private diaries, psychological services, researcher, self esteem, social anxieties, social anxiety, social behaviours, tel aviv, troubled students, university of haifa, university of haifa israel