Research on Relationship between Personality Traits and Online Behaviour in Adolescents (With VKontakte Social Media as an Example)

The paper presents and discusses outcomes of the first stage of a research project on the role of social media in the life of modern adolescents that was carried out on basis of the MSUPE Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Modern Childhood in 2015—2018. The issue of adolescents’ self-presentation in social media is one of the key trends in modern research, and in Russian psychological and pedagogical science there is clearly a lack of works on various aspects of adolescent online behaviour and interaction, in particular, in social media websites. The sample of our empirical study consisted of 88 individuals aged 15—18 years, and the following techniques were used: a modified version of A.Ye. Lichko’s character accentuations questionnaire; Stephenson’s Q-Sort technique; the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; the Tomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument; Eyesenck’s Self-Evaluation of Mental States technique; content analysis of VKontakte webpages. As it was revealed, personality traits of the adolescents were closely interrelated with the structure of their profiles in the VK website. For instance, numerous correlations were found between various parameters of personal webpages and such personality traits as character accentuations, interpersonal conflicts, preferred type of conflict behaviour, as well as with levels of anxiety, rigidity, aggression and frustration.

1. Batkaeva E. Rol’ sotsial’nykh setei v sotsializatsii molodezhi [Elektronnyj resurs] [The role of social networks in youth socialization]. URL: http://www. pareto-center.ru/smi-59.html (Accessed: 18.10.2016).
2. Blog pro noutbuki i komp’yutery. Notebook.net. [Elektronnyj resurs] [Blog about laptops and computers]. URL: http://notebooke.net/social-networking/vkontakte-registratsiya-opisanie.html (Accessed: 09.05.2018).
3. Verkhovskaya E.K., Rubtsova O.V., Panfilova A.S. Neirokomp’yutery i ikh primenenie [Neurocomputers and their applications]. Tezisy dokladov. A.I. Galushkina, A.V. Chechkina, L.S. Kuravskogo, S.L. Artemenkova, G.A. Yur’eva, P.A. Marmalyuka, A.V. Gorbatova, S.D. Kulika (ed.), 2016, pp. 69-70.
4. Vkontakte.ru [Elektronnyj resurs] [www.vk.com]. URL: https://vk.com/page-47200925_44240810 (Accessed: 09.05.2018).
5. Gavrichenko O.V., Smolyakova T.V. Osobennosti samoprezentatsii v Internet-dnevnikakh podrostkov i molodezhi [Elektronnyi resurs] [Features of self-presentation in Internet diaries of teenagers and youth]. Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya: elektron. nauch. Zhurn [Psychological research: electronic scientific journal], 2008, no. 1(1). URL: http://psystudy.ru (Accessed: 23.05.2018)
6. Gordeeva A.V. Variativnost’ samoprezentatsii podrostkov v Internete. Donetsk [Elektronnyi resurs] [Variability of self-presentation of teenagers on the Internet]. URL: http://www.sudexp.org/publ/10-1-0-362 (Accessed: 25.11.2016).
7. Zatulii A.I. Kul’turologiya i pedagogika [Cultural studies and pedagogy]. Vestnik TOGU [Gerald TOGO], 2012, no. 1(24), pp. 297—304.
8. Lichko A.E. Psikhopatii i aktsentuatsii kharaktera u podrostkov [Psychopathy and accentuation of character in adolescents]. 2-e izd. Leningrad: Medicina, 1983. 256 p.
9. Matrosova M.M. Realizatsiya modulya administratora dlya psikhodiagnosticheskogo kompleksa po vyyavleniyu rolevogo konflikta u podrostkov [Implementation of the administrator module for psychodiagnostic complex to identify role conflict in adolescents]. Mag.dis. Moscow, 2017.
10. Nesterova A.V. Realizatsiya modulya testirovaniya dlya psikhodiagnosticheskogo kompleksa po vyyavleniyu rolevogo konflikta u podrostkov [The implementation of module testing for psycho-diagnostic complex for identifying role conflict in adolescents]. Mag.dis. Moscow, 2017.
11. Arzhanykh E.V. (eds.), Rol’ virtual’nykh sotsial’nykh setei v zhizni sovremennogo shkol’nika. Otchet po itogam NIR [The role of virtual social networks in the life of a modern student. Report on the results of research work]. Arzhanykh E.V., Zadorin I.V., Kolesnikova E.Yu., Gurkina O.A., Novikova E.M., Mal’tseva D.V., Moscow, 2014. 107 p.
12. Rubtsova O.V. Tsifrovye tekhnologii kak novoe sredstvo oposredovaniya [Digital technology as a new medium]. In Polivanova R.N. (ed.), Mezhdunarodnyi simpozium «L.S. Vygotskii i sovremennoe detstvo» [International Symposium “L.S. Vygotsky and modern childhood”]. Sbornik tezisov. K.N. Polivanova (ed.). 2017, pp. 85—86.
13. Rubtsova O.V., Ulanova N.S. Digital Media as a Means of Developing Reflection in Students with Disabilities: Cultural-Historical Perspective [Elektronnyi resurs]. Teoriya deyatelnosti: deyatelnostnye issledovaniya v Germanii [ Theory of activity: research in Germany], 2014. Vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 95—118. URL: https://psyjournals.ru/tatigkeitstheorie/2014/n1/75098. shtml (Accessed: 23.05.2018)
14. Slovari i enciklopedii na Akademike [Elektronnyj resurs] [Dictionaries and encyclopedias on the Academician]. URL: http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ es/23309/Internet (Accessed: 05.02.2017).
15. Smirnova V.K. Svyaz’ vnutrilichnostnykh konfliktov i sposobov samoprezentatsii v virtual’nom prostranstve v starshem podrostkovom vozraste [Connection of intrapersonal conflicts and ways of self-presentation in the virtual space in the older adolescence]. Mag. dis. Moscow, 2017.