Digital vulnerability in young people: gender, age and online participation patterns

Figures & data

Table 1. Constructs and observable variables under study.

Elements of study	Observed variables
Sociodemographic characteristics of Spanish young people	Gender, age, level of studies, social class, living group
Behaviour of young people on social media and the Internet	Frequency of social media use Daily social media exposure time
Activities carried out on the Internet	Frequency of activities recoded in terms of presence/absence of participation in: Videogames (console gaming or other devices) Betting (e.g. sports.) eGames (online competitions) Online shopping Gambling (e.g. casino, poker, roulette, slot machines, etc.)
Emotions experienced by young people when interacting in the digital environment	Frequency of emotions recoded in terms of presence and lack of: Fear Anxiety Lack of respect Insecurity Helplessness Social pressure Feeling empty Loss of control of information Shame
Self-perceived risk	Self-perceived risk (1 to 5 points, presence/absence) in the activities: Gambling Betting eGames Compulsive shopping

Figure 1. Relationship between frequency of Internet/social media use and gender.

Table 2. Association between gender and other socio-demographic factors and frequency of social media and Internet use.

Sociodemographic factors		How often do you use the Internet and social media?
		Every or almost every day (n=1304)	3 to 5 times a week (n=135)	1 or 2 times a week (n=28)	Less frequently (n=34)	Statistical	Sig.
	n	% row	% row	% row	% row	Chi-Square	p value
Age recoded
Up to 26	691	87.6%	7.8%	1.8%	2.8%	17.926	0.006**
27 to 28	165	95.5%	3.5%	0.5%	0.5%
Over 28	645	84.0%	11.7%	2.2%	2.1%
Social Class
Upper Class	287	86.5%	10.7%	1.5%	1.4%	41.652	0.000**
Upper Middle Class	410	90.9%	7.1%	1.2%	0.7%
Middle Class	510	87.8%	8.9%	1.6%	1.8%
Lower Middle Class	191	81.6%	8.9%	4.4%	5.0%
Lower	101	77.5%	12.5%	2.2%	7.9%
Level of Studies
Primary Education (Up to 14)	116	74.6%	15.8%	4.2%	5.4%	23.470	0.001**
Secondary Education (Up to 18)	415	85.0%	11.2%	2.0%	1.8%
University Studies	968	89.2%	7.2%	1.5%	2.1%
Total	1500	86.9%	9.0%	1.9%	2.2%

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 statistically significant.

Figure 2. Relationship between young people’s daily use of social media and gender.

Table 3. Association between the other socio-demographic factors and daily time spent on social media.

Sociodemographic factors		How much time do you spend on social media per day?
		More than 4 hours (n=453)	4 hours (n=249)	3 hours (n=308)	2 hours (n =309)	1 hour or less (n = 168)	Statistical	Sig.
	n	% row	% row	% row	% row	% row	Chi-Square	p value
Age recoded
Up to 26	691	37.0%	16.7%	21.1%	17.4%	7.8%	65.762	0.000**
27 to 28	165	27.3%	24.6%	16.5%	26.8%	4.8%
Over 28	645	24.2%	14.8%	21.5%	22.9%	16.6%
Place of residence
Parents´ home	543	36.5%	15.9%	18.6%	18.4%	10.6%	26.989	0.042*
In a rented flat	433	28.1%	19.3%	19.9%	20.9%	11.8%
In their own flat	420	25.1%	16.1%	23.1%	23.9%	11.8%
In a rented flat shared with friends or strangers	78	32.4%	11.1%	28.9%	21.5%	6.2%
Other	25	24.8%	18.0%	16.2%	17.2%	23.7%
Total	1500	30.5%	16.7%	20.7%	20.8%	11.3%

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 statistically significant.

Figure 3. Activities carried out in the online environment.

Table 4. Relationship between the activities carried out in the online environment by young people and their socio-demographic characteristics.

Socio-demographic characteristics		Participate in Videogames	Participate in Betting	Participate in egames	Participate in Online Shopping	Participate in Gambling
		Yes (n=1324)	Yes (n= 847)	Yes (n=1114)	Yes (n=1446)	Yes (n=801)
	n	% row	% row	% row	% row	% row
Gender
Male	760	95.3%	65.9%	84.5%	95.0%	61.5%
Female	740	81.1%	46.8%	63.8%	98.0%	45.3%
Chi-Square		72.143	55.292	83.679	10.758	38.850
p value		0.000**	0.000**	0,000**	0.001**	0.000**
Level of Studies
Primary Education (Up to 14)	691	85.3%	62.9%	75.6%	89.7%	57.8%
Secondary Education (Up to 18)	165	88.1%	49.4%	75.3%	95.8%	48.5%
University Studies	645	88.6%	58.7%	73.7%	97.5%	55.0%
Chi-Square		1.085	12.411	0.549	19.343	5.809
p value		0.581	0.002**	0.760	0.000**	0.055
Social Class recoded
Upper-Middle Upper Class	697	90.4%	65.3%	78.5%	98.1%	62.7%
Middle Class	510	87.7%	50.3%	74.4%	97.1%	47.2%
Lower-Lower Middle Class	292	84.1%	46.1%	63.9%	91.1%	42.0%
Chi-Square		8.519	42.673	22.564	30.367	47.193
p value		0.014*	0.000**	0.000**	0.000**	0.000**
Total	1500	88.2%	56.5%	74.3%	96.4%	53.4%

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 statistically significant.

Table 5. Association between participation in betting and gambling and age groups.

Age		Participate in Betting		Age		Participate in Gambling
		Yes (n=847)	No (n=801)			Yes (n=801)	No (n =699)
	n	% row	% row		n	% row	% row
Up to 21	131	43.5%	56.5%	Up to 19	309	38.2%	61.8%
22 to 29	815	57.0%	43.0%	20 to 29	637	53.9%	47.3%
Over 29	554	63.0%	37.0%	Over 29	554	58.2%	41.9%
Total	1500	56.5%	43.5%	Total	1500	53.4%	46.6%
Chi-Square, p value		31.240	0.000**	Chi-Square, p value		17.343	0.000**

**p < 0.01 statistically significant.

Figure 4. Distribution of emotions in young people’s online environment according to gender.

Figure 5. Distribution of emotions in young people’s online environment according to age.

Table 6. Relationship between activities performed and negative emotions in the online environment for young people.

Emotions		Participate in Videogames		Participate in Betting		Participate in eGames		Participate in Online Shopping		Participate in Gambling
		Yes (n=1324)		Yes (n= 847)		Yes (n=1114)		Yes (n=1446)		Yes (n=801)
	n	% column	Chi-Square, p value	% column	Chi- Square, p value	% column	Chi- Square, p value	% column	Chi- Square, p value	% column	Chi- Square, p value
Fear
Yes	442	30.4%	0.717	34.8%	21.066	33.1%	19.496	30.4%	3.003	36.7%	36.074
No	1030	69.6%	0.397	65.2%	0.000**	66.9%	0.000**	69.6%	0.083	63.3%	0.000**
Anxiety
Yes	559	38.1%	0.221	41.5%	10.712	39.3%	3.394	38.4%	4.747	43.7%	24.351
No	915	61.9%	0.638	58.5%	0.001**	60.7%	0.065	61.6%	0.029*	56.3%	0.000**
Lack of respect
Yes	670	46.3%	3.376	48.1%	5.297	47.7%	8.948	46.0%	5.831	50.6%	17.937
No	805	53.7%	0.066	51.9%	0.021*	52.3%	0.003**	54.0%	0.016*	49.4%	0.000**
Insecurity
Yes	659	44.4%	1.159	45.3%	0.082	46.4%	3.921	45.6%	8.471	47.5%	4.641
No	808	55.6%	0.282	54.7%	0.775	53.6%	0.048*	54.4%	0.004*	52.5%	0.031*
Helplessness
Yes	723	48.8%	1.035	50.8%	1.870	49.6%	0.169	50.2%	15.928	52.0%	5.137
No	744	51.2%	0.309	49.2%	0.171	50.4%	0.681	49.8%	0.000**	48.0%	0.023*
Feeling empty
Yes	604	41.1%	0.095	43.1%	2.599	43.7%	10.648	41.9%	7.999	45.3%	11.135
No	860	58.9%	0.757	56.9%	0.107	56.3%	0.001**	58.1%	0.000**	54.7%	0.001**
Social pressure
Yes	667	44.9%	0.058	48.2%	7.659	46.3%	2.685	45.8%	9.283	49.8%	15.457
No	814	55.1%	0.810	51.8%	0.006**	53.7%	0.101	54.2%	0.002**	50.2%	0.000*
Loss of control of information
Yes	662	46.0%	3.426	47.3%	3.633	46.8%	5.044	45.5%	1.892	49.4%	12.450
No	806	54.0%	0.064	52.7%	0.057	53.2%	0.025*	54.5%	0.169	50.6%	0.000**
Shame
Yes	567	38.8%	0.564	41.9%	9.403	41.3%	13.812	38.8%	1.563	42.8%	13.256
No	905	61.2%	0.453	58.1%	0.002**	58.7%	0.000**	61.2%	0.211	57.2%	0.000**

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01 statistically significant.

Figure 6. Perception of risk in activities by age of young people.

Figure 7. Map of the simultaneous relationships between the demographic characteristics of young people, usage habits, activities performed and emotions experienced in the online environment.