Centre for Modern Childhood Research

Publications

• Book

  Mikhaylova O.

  Comparative Semantic Network Analysis of the Satanic Discourses in the Russian Social Network "Vkontakte"

  Satanism definition has been a significant issue for the various social actors through ages. Satanic moral panic could be treated as one of the examples for the social struggles on the power to name something satanic or not. For contemporary Russian society the satanism definition also became relevant, Russian politicians, lawmakers frequently use the word “satanism” in their claims and have to make decisions on what should be named satanic. Due to the significance of satanism definition for the scholar and non-scholar public, in this thesis, I dealt with the development of the application of sociological classifications to the distinction between satanic discourses. In particular, I attempted to compare three types of satanic online discourses (using definition of satanism proposed by Petersen) and discover the distinctive features of the satanic discourses in Russian social network “VK” on the semantic level. For that purpose, semantic network analysis was used, in addition to this, the social network analysis was applied to the reconstruction of the structure of the satanic discursive field. The results of my Thesis contribute to the satanism research, discourse analysis studies of online discourse propagation, digital religion research, social network analysis studies and could be utilized as a first step towards the formation of the mechanisms for the automatic distinction between satanic discourses in the Russian social networks.

  Master dissertation, HSE University, 2020.

• Article

  Akhmedjanova, D.R.

  Domain-Specific Self-Efficacy Scales for Elementary and Middle School Students

  Background. Self-efficacy refers to students’ perceived confidence in their ability to tackle learning tasks. Research shows that self-efficacy serves as an important predictor of academic achievement and relates to students’ academic success, self-regulated learning, and motivation. It is therefore important to understand how self-efficacy develops and manifests itself in Russian schoolchildren and relates to their academic achievement.

  Objective. To establish evidence of the validity and reliability of domain-specific self-efficacy scales developed for elementary and middle school students.

  Design. Messick’s unified framework was used to establish validity. The surveys were administered to elementary and middle school students in two regions of Russia.

  Results. The pilot testing of the self-efficacy scales for elementary school, using exploratory (n = 972) and confirmatory (n = 972) factor analyses, resulted in a four-factor model, which was later confirmed with a different sample of elementary students (n = 1,392) with good reliability estimates (α = 0.75–0.82). The pilot testing of self-efficacy scales for middle school, using exploratory (n = 583) and confirmatory (n = 584) factor analyses, resulted in a three-factor model, showing excellent reliability estimates (α = 0.88–0.93).

  Conclusion. The evidence of construct validity suggests that the domain-specific self-efficacy scales for elementary and middle school students can be recommended for use by researchers and practitioners. The article presents ideas for additional validation studies and future research using domain-specific self-efficacy scales.

  Psychology in Russia: State of the Art. 2024. Vol. 17. No. 1. P. 45-66.

• Book chapter

  Sivak E., Smirnov I.

  Measuring Adolescents’ Well-Being: Correspondence of Naïve Digital Traces to Survey Data

  Digital traces are often used as a substitute for survey data. However, it is unclear whether and how digital traces actually correspond to the survey-based traits they purport to measure. This paper examines correlations between selfreports and digital trace proxies of depression, anxiety, mood, social integration and sleep among high school students. The study is based on a small but rich multilayer data set (N = 144). The data set contains mood and sleep measures, assessed daily over a 4-month period, along with survey measures at two points in time and information about online activity from VK, the most popular social networking site in Russia. Our analysis indicates that 1) the sentiments expressed in social media posts are correlated with depression; namely, adolescents with more severe symptoms of depression write more negative posts, 2) late-night posting indicates less sleep and poorer sleep quality, and 3) students who were nominated less often as somebody’s friend in the survey have fewer friends on VK and their posts receive fewer “likes.” However, these correlations are generally weak. These results demonstrate that digital traces can serve as useful supplements to, rather than substitutes for, survey data in studies on adolescents’ well-being. These estimates of correlations between survey and digital trace data could provide useful guidelines for future research on the topic.

  In bk.: Social Informatics. 12th International Conference, SocInfo 2020, Pisa, Italy, October 6–9, 2020, Proceedings.. Springer, 2020. Ch. 26. P. 352-363.

• Working paper

  Mikhaylova O.

  Meanings Attached to Pets by Young Women with Anorexia: Triggers of Mental Health Problems, Neutral Beings, Sources of Emotional Support, Care-Targets, or Fully Fledged Family Members

  Animal-assisted therapy and intervention have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of people with mental health issues that are connected to social functioning difficulties. Anorexia is a mental health disorder that is associated with problematic formation and maintenance of long-lasting personal relationships. There is a limited number of papers that describe how people with eating disorders, including anorexia, treat their pets. Since the perceptions of people with anorexia of their pets are largely unexplored, in this article, I aim to contribute to this lacuna. In particular, I study the meanings that young women with anorexia attach to their pets. The data on this topic was collected through semi-structured biographical interviews and the concentric circles method (N = 50). The narratives were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that pets are scarcely included in personal networks. Only seven women out of 50 mentioned them as members of these networks. Pets as parts of personal networks are referred to in five ways: (1) as providers of needed emotional support, (2) as targets of care that help to find the reason to be alive; (3) as triggers of depression and other mental health problems, (4) neutrally, or (5) as family members who are both in need of care and capable of providing support. Based on the results of the present research, I suggest the cautious implementation of animals in the provision of mental health services for young women with anorexia because these individuals tend to create strong bonds with their pets and the sudden cut of these ties (for instance due to pet death) could result in the worsening of the mental health of these vulnerable women.Animal-assisted therapy and intervention have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of people with mental health issues that are connected to social functioning difficulties. Anorexia is a mental health disorder that is associated with problematic formation and maintenance of long-lasting personal relationships. There is a limited number of papers that describe how people with eating disorders, including anorexia, treat their pets. Since the perceptions of people with anorexia of their pets are largely unexplored, in this article, I aim to contribute to this lacuna. In particular, I study the meanings that young women with anorexia attach to their pets. The data on this topic was collected through semi-structured biographical interviews and the concentric circles method (N = 50). The narratives were analyzed using thematic qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that pets are scarcely included in personal networks. Only seven women out of 50 mentioned them as members of these networks. Pets as parts of personal networks are referred to in five ways: (1) as providers of needed emotional support, (2) as targets of care that help to find the reason to be alive; (3) as triggers of depression and other mental health problems, (4) neutrally, or (5) as family members who are both in need of care and capable of providing support. Based on the results of the present research, I suggest the cautious implementation of animals in the provision of mental health services for young women with anorexia because these individuals tend to create strong bonds with their pets and the sudden cut of these ties (for instance due to pet death) could result in the worsening of the mental health of these vulnerable women.

  OSF Preprints. OSF. Series, 2022