Leonard Reinecke

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz | JGU · Department of Communication

Consuming media entertainment often challenges recipients’ self-control. While past research related self-control almost exclusively to the initiation of media use, it might be equally relevant for the disengagement from media use. Testing core assumptions of the Appraisal of Media Use, Self-Control, and Entertainment (AMUSE) model, the present stu...

This edited volume examines the ways in which rapidly changing technologies and patterns of media use influence, and are influenced by, our emotional experiences. Following introductory chapters outlining common conceptual frameworks used in the study of emotion and digital media effects, this book is then organized around four general areas highli...

Consuming media entertainment often challenges recipients’ self-control. While past research related self-control almost exclusively to the initiation of media use, it might be equally relevant for the disengagement from media use. Testing core assumptions of the Appraisal of Media Use, Self-Control, and Entertainment (AMUSE) model, the present stu...

This edited volume examines the ways in which rapidly changing technologies and patterns of media use influence, and are influenced by, our emotional experiences. Following introductory chapters outlining common conceptual frameworks used in the study of emotion and digital media effects, this book is then organized around four general areas highli...

Social media offer their users a variety of opportunities for online self-presentation and thus represent an optimal environment for social comparisons. With the increasing popularity of social media, there is growing concern in public and scientific discourse about negative effects of online social comparisons on users’ mental health. Research out...

An increasing number of studies indicate that individuals have difficulties in exerting self-control over media use, such as mobile messaging. Specifically, individuals frequently experience that their messenger use conflicts with primary goals (e.g., work tasks), which may cause negative self-conscious emotions such as guilt. At the same time, not...

Mobile connectivity can negatively affect smartphone users by eliciting stress. Past research focused on stress-inducing potentials of smartphone use behaviors and, recently, on the cognitive-motivational engagement with online interactions. However, theoretical perspectives as the mobile connectivity paradox and the IM³UNE model further suggest th...

Narratives and media entertainment are central sources of meaningful experiences in everyday life and provide role models and learning opportunities for coping with adversity and life challenges. Though a growing body of research demonstrates beneficial short-term effects of entertainment use on recovery and stress coping, a test of longitudinal ef...

Using mobile media can be both detrimental and beneficial for well-being. Thus, explaining how and when they elicit such effects is of crucial importance. To explicate boundary conditions and processes for digital well-being, this article introduces the Integrative Model of Mobile Media Use and Need Experiences (IM³UNE). Instead of assuming mobile...

Self-presentation on social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram is often assumed to be inauthentic or even fake. While authenticity on SNS has been linked to increased well-being, most research has investigated it either monolithically (e.g., via screen time measures) or with regard to stable self-presentations (e.g., in Facebook profiles). In co...

Media use significantly increased in many countries as shelter-in-place and social distancing measures were enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, little is known about what specific media were used; the emotional experiences users associated with media during the pandemic; or how media use may have varied as social distancing protocols...

Internet-related disorders (IRD) are increasingly becoming a major health issue. IRD are defined as the predominant use of online content, related to a loss of control and continued use despite negative consequences. Despite findings from cross-sectional studies, the causality of pathways accelerating the development of IRD are unclear. While etiol...

The use of social media can have positive and negative effects on psychological well-being. The present article proposes that self-regulation and the related concept of self-control act as central boundary conditions of this relationship. Successfully self-regulated social media use can bolster psychological well-being through mood management and e...

Two of the most important developmental tasks in adolescence are developing autonomy and establishing relationships (i.e., friendships and romantic relationships). Self-socialization processes are relevant in mastering these developmental tasks. Mobile media are predestined as tools for such self-socialization: Their affordances—universality, priva...

Using mobile media can be both detrimental and beneficial for well-being. Thus, explaining how and when they elicit such effects is of crucial importance. To explicate boundary conditions and processes for digital well-being, this article introduces the Integrative Model of Mobile Media Use and Need Experiences (IM³UNE). Instead of assuming mobile...

Do social media affect users’ mental health and well-being? By now, considerable research has addressed this highly contested question. Prior studies have investigated the effects of social media use on hedonic well-being (e.g., affect and life satisfaction), psychopathology (e.g., depressive or anxiety symptoms), or psychosocial risk/resilience fa...

Using media, specifically those that offer entertainment, frequently conflicts with other goals and obligations in daily life. Users can manage these conflicts either by applying self-control and upholding their goals, or by giving in to media temptations, which elicits negative emotional appraisals such as guilt that potentially spoil entertainmen...

Mobile connectivity can negatively affect smartphone users by eliciting stress. Past research focused on stress-inducing potentials of smartphone use behaviours and, recently, on the cognitive-motivational engagement with online interactions. However, theoretical perspectives as the mobile connectivity paradox (Vanden Abeele, 2021) and the IM³UNE m...

Self-presentation on social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram is often assumed to be inauthentic or even fake. While authenticity on SNS has been linked to increased well-being, most research has investigated it either monolithically (e.g., via screen time measures) or with regard to stable self-presentations (e.g., in Facebook profiles). In co...

Mobile messaging has been associated with guilt. Guilt about too much messaging may result from self-control failures during goal conflicts. Conversely, guilt about too little messaging may result from violating the salient norm to be available. This research considers both boundary conditions of guilt about mobile communication—goal conflicts and...

This handbook provides a strong collection of communication- and psychology-based theories and models on media entertainment, which can be used as a knowledge resource for any academic and applied purpose. Its 41 chapters offer explanations of entertainment that audiences find in any kind of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, from classic novels to VR video ga...

This handbook provides a strong collection of communication- and psychology-based theories and models on media entertainment, which can be used as a knowledge resource for any academic and applied purpose. Its 41 chapters offer explanations of entertainment that audiences find in any kind of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media, from classic novels to VR video ga...

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), and specifically social media, may affect the mental health (MH) and well-being of its users, for better or worse. Research on this topic has accumulated rapidly, accompanied by controversial public debate and numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Yet, a higher-level integration of the multiple dispar...

Concerns have been expressed that permanent online connectedness might negatively affect media user’s stress levels. Most research has focused on negative effects of specific media usage patterns, such as media multitasking or communication load. In contrast, users’ cognitive orientation toward online content and communication has rarely been inves...

In spring 2020, COVID-19 and the ensuing social distancing and stay-at-home orders instigated abrupt changes to employment and educational infrastructure, leading to uncertainty, concern, and stress among United States college students. The media consumption patterns of this and other social groups across the globe were affected, with early evidenc...

Media use is often referred to as a “guilty pleasure.” In fact, a growing number of studies provide empirical evidence of a high prevalence of guilt reactions to media use. Negative self‐conscious emotions such as guilt are elicited by actions or events that are incongruent with the individual's personal standards or identity goals. In the context...

Through communication technology, users find themselves constantly connected to others to such an extent that they routinely develop a mind-set of connectedness. This mind-set has been defined as online vigilance. Although there is a large body of research on media use and well-being, the question of how online vigilance impacts well-being remains...

The relationship between self-control and media use is complicated. Loss of self-control capacity has been linked to generally higher levels of media use, which might represent self-regulatory failure, but could also be attempts at replenishing self-control. Indeed, self-determination theory proposes that satisfying intrinsic psychological needs (a...

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), and specifically social media, may affect the mental health (MH) and well-being of its users, for good or bad. Research on this topic has accumulated rapidly, accompanied by controversial public debate and numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Yet, a higher-level integration of the various disparate c...

In recent years, the perspective of media use and its contribution to positive outcomes for its users has been expanded towards the media’s potential to facilitate recovery from stress and strain and to support the replenishment of physical and psychological resources. The accumulation of empirical findings in this area calls for a systematization...

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that the use of interactive media is associated with recovery experiences, suggesting that engaging with media can help people to alleviate stress and restore mental and physical resources. Video games, in particular, have been shown to fulfil various aspects of recovery, not least due to their ability to elicit...

Although the concept of escapism is widely used in entertainment research, it lacks theoretical and empirical differentiation. Based on the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), we extend previous attempts to conceptualize escapism as a form of emotion-focused avoidance coping. In contrast to the primarily negative con...

Through communication technology, users find themselves constantly connected to others to such an extent that they routinely develop a mindset of connectedness. This mindset has been defined as online vigilance. Although there is a large body of research on media use and well-being, the question of how online vigilance impacts well-being remains un...

This document contains the English Version of the Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). The scale can be freely used for non-commercial, scientific purposes. Further information concerning the construction and psychometric properties of the original scale can also be found in Reinecke et al. (2018).

This document provides a Chinese translation of the Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). The scale can be freely used for non-commercial, scientific purposes. Further information concerning the construction and psychometric properties of the original scale can also be found in Reinecke et al. (2018).

Das beigefügte Dokument listet die deutschsprachigen Items der Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). Die Skala darf für nicht-kommerzielle, wissenschaftliche Zwecke unter Nennung der Originalquelle (siehe unten) frei verwendet werden. Weiter Angaben zum Skalenkonstruktionsprozess, den psychometrischen Eigenschaften und der Anwendung und...

User erleben Unterhaltung online anders als mit klassischen Medien: Sie produzieren selbst unterhaltenden Content, sie kommunizieren mit anderen über ihre Beiträge oder Kommentare und die Kontaktaufnahme ist Teil der Unterhaltung im Netz. Aus den Möglichkeiten der Produktion und Interaktion ergeben sich Herausforderungen für die klassischen Unterha...

Sleep experts have raised concern over the effects of electronic media use on sleep. To date, few studies have looked beyond the effects of duration and frequency of media exposure or examined the underlying mechanisms of this association. As procrastinatory media use has been related to lower well-being, we used data from two survey studies (N1= 8...

The intensity of using sexually explicit internet material (SEIM) is contingent on users’ gender. However, gender differences in the motivations for watching SEIM have not yet been comprehensively explored. Drawing on a representative survey of German internet users, we therefore analyze how women and men use SEIM to satisfy escapist needs. Lower l...

As mobile technology allows users to be online anywhere and at all times, a growing number of users report feeling constantly alert and preoccupied with online streams of online information and communication-a phenomenon that has recently been termed online vigilance. Despite its growing prevalence, consequences of this constant orientation toward...

Smartphones and other mobile devices have fundamentally changed patterns of Internet use in everyday life by making online access constantly available. The present paper offers a theoretical explication and empirical assessment of the concept of online vigilance, referring to users’ permanent cognitive orientation towards online content and communi...

Study 4 wide format. (SAV)

As mobile technology allows users to be online anywhere and at all times, a growing number of users report feeling constantly alert and preoccupied with online streams of online information and communication—a phenomenon that has recently been termed online vigilance. Despite its growing prevalence, the consequences of this constant orientation tow...

Binge-watching—the intensive, consecutive viewing of televised series—has become a prevalent usage pattern of entertainment media, which may influence users’ psychological well-being both positively and negatively: On the one hand, binge-watching could increase viewers’ enjoyment, recovery experiences, and vitality through an increase in perceived...

Adolescents with a strong tendency for irrational task delay (i.e., high trait procrastination) may be particularly prone to use Internet applications simultaneously to other tasks (e.g., during homework) and in an insufficiently controlled fashion. Both Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet usage may thus amplify the negativ...

The pervasive access to media options seriously challenges users’ self-regulatory abilities. One example of deficient self-regulation in the context of media use is procrastination—impulsively ‘giving in’ to available media options despite goal conflicts with more important tasks. This study investigaes procrastinatory media use across 3 types of m...

A growing number of studies suggest that Internet users frequently utilize online media as “tools for procrastination.” This study thus investigated the relationship between trait procrastination, Internet use, and psychological well-being in a representative sample of N = 1,577 German Internet users. The results revealed that trait procrastination...

Purpose: Problematic Internet use (PIU) that has recently been referred to as Internet-related disorder is a growing health concern. Yet, it is unclear why some adolescents are developing problematic use, whereas others sustain control. Based on previous research, we hypothesize that personality traits (low conscientiousness and high neuroticism)...

Being constantly connected to others via e-mail and other online messages is increasingly typical for many employees. In this paper, we develop and test a model that specifies how interruptions by online messages relate to negative and positive affect. We hypothesize that perceived interruptions by online messages predict state negative affect via...

This study extends research on the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment and its potential for recovery experiences and aspects of well-being (e.g., Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente, 2014). With the broad notion of what hedonic and eudaimonic media can entail, this research focused on unique affective experiences—namely, po...

How can we operationalize the new phenomenon of being permanently online, permanently connected (POPC)? In this chapter, we highlight established and innovative methods of data collection in POPC research with a focus on smartphones. After identifying conceptual as well as methodological obstacles and opportunities when measuring POPC, we synthesiz...

The authors regret a copy and paste error in the method section of Study 1 (p. 69). One of the four items of our measure of procrastination with Facebook is not reported correctly. Instead of the correct item (“I used Facebook while procrastinating upcoming work.”) the item “I used Facebook although I had more important things to do.” is listed twi...

The present study contributes to the investigation of communicative norms and social support in Social Network Sites (SNSs). We suggest that a positivity bias restricts the availability of social support users receive from others via public responses to negative status updates. Moderated mediation analyses of the data of an online experiment (N = 8...

The “privacy calculus” approach to studying online privacy implies that willingness to engage in disclosures on social network sites (SNSs) depends on evaluation of the resulting risks and benefits. In this article, we propose that cultural factors influence the perception of privacy risks and social gratifications. Based on survey data collected f...

In the present chapter we propose that in a media saturated environment, self-control is a key variable providing a more complete understanding of the complex interactions of media use and well-being: In the face of ubiquitous access to media content, users find it increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between the short-term pleasures of med...

Procrastinating with popular online media such as Facebook has been suggested to impair users' well-being, particularly among students. Building on recent procrastination, self-control, and communication literature, we conducted two studies (total N = 699) that examined the predictors of procrastination with Facebook as well as its effects on stude...

https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Media-Use-and-Well-Being-International-Perspectives/Reinecke-Oliver/p/book/9781138886582

Mood management theory belongs to a larger group of theoretical approaches that address selective exposure to media content. The theory posits that media choice is a function of the current affective state of media users and follows the principle of mood optimization. While the existing empirical evidence provides substantial support for the genera...

Background The Perceived Stress Scale Cohen (J Health Soc Behav 24:385-96, 1983) is a widely and well-established self-report scale measuring perceived stress. However, the German version of the PSS-10 has not yet been validated. Thus, the purposes of this representative study were to psychometrically evaluate the PSS-10, and to provide norm values...

The present study investigated the psychological health effects and motivational origins of digital stress based on a representative survey of 1,557 German Internet users between 14 and 85 years of age. Communication load resulting from private e-mails and social media messages as well as Internet multitasking were positively related to perceived s...

Today's constant availability of media content provides users with various recreational resources. It may also challenge self-control, however, once media exposure conflicts with other goals and obligations. How media users deal with these self-regulatory chances and risks in their daily lives is largely unknown. Our study addressed the predictors...

Addressing the lack of population-based data the purpose of this representative study was to assess procrastination and its associations with distress and life satisfaction across the life span. A representative German community sample (1,350 women; 1,177 men) between the ages of 14 and 95 years was examined by the short form of the General Procras...

In recent years, entertainment theory has undergone a paradigmatic shift: The traditional conceptualization of entertainment as an exclusively pleasurable affective state has been significantly extended by recent two-factor models. These models have introduced a second dimension of entertainment that incorporates more complex nonhedonic experiences...

Recent research has demonstrated that the use of hedonically positive interactive media content contributes to the satisfaction of recovery needs and is associated with recovery outcomes such as higher levels of cognitive performance and increased energetic arousal. The recovery effects of noninteractive media stimuli as well as of media content wi...

Technische Innovation und der kommunikative Alltag permanenter Vernetzung Die Verfügbarkeit von mobilem Breitbandinternet versetzt mittlerweile wachsende Bevölkerungsanteile – in einigen Segmenten wie den hochgebildeten und einkom-mensstarken jungen urbanen Eliten sogar die dominierende Mehrheit – in die Lage, Dienste und Funktionen der Online-Komm...

This article addresses ego depletion as a mechanism influencing media-based stress recovery processes. Using structural equation modeling, relationships between ego depletion, procrastination, guilt, enjoyment, vitality, and recovery experience were tested using data from an online survey (N = 471). Results suggest that ego depletion may increase t...

This paper explores the impact of hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experience on well-being. We propose that the satisfaction of recovery needs can provide an important link that connects recent 2-factor models of entertainment with well-being after media consumption. Using path modeling, relationships between hedonic/eudaimonic entertainment e...

While intrinsic motivation has received broad attention in recent entertainment research, the effects of extrinsic motivation, such as social pressure to use media, on media enjoyment remain unknown. Based on an online-survey (N = 230), this study tested the effects of intrinsic need satisfaction and perceived social pressure on the enjoyment of Fa...

People around the globe now regularly interact with family and friends through social network sites (SNSs). In this article, we investigated the differences between social interactions in online and offline contexts as well as users' satisfaction with the social support received in these contexts. It was hypothesized that SNSs are better set up for...

In offline settings, authentic behavior has frequently been linked to increased well-being. Social network sites (SNSs) provide a new venue for authenticity, yet the effects of online authenticity are largely unknown. The present study investigated the reciprocal effects of authenticity on SNSs and the psycho-logical well-being of SNS users in a tw...

Was tun Menschen, um sich von den Belastungen des Alltags zu erholen, und welche Rolle können Medien dabei spielen? Die Forschung zu Erholung durch Medien legt nahe, dass Medieninhalte keineswegs, wie häufig postuliert, nur negative Wirkungen haben. Im Gegenteil: Sie können genutzt werden, um sich von negativen Emotionen abzulenken, sich erholt, fi...

This research report presents data from a study conducted in Germany based on a 3-year panel design. From October 2009 to April 2012, five waves of data collection were established. N = 327 participants from a convenience sample gave answers to questions regarding media use, privacy behaviors, well-being, social support, authenticity, and specific...

The question of how media use affects the psychological well‐being of media users has received attention from a number of communication scholars since the early days of the field. However, research has primarily tended to emphasize the risks and negative effects of media use on well‐being, such as detrimental consequences of escapist or excessive m...

Systematische Skalenkonstruktionen tragen erheblich zum Erkenntnisfortschritt der Kommunikationswissenschaft bei, indem sie gültige und verlässliche Messinstrumente zur Verfügung tellen. Gleichzeitig wird die Durchführung gezielter Skalenkonstruktionen in der Kommunikationswissenschaft immer populärer, was als Zeichen der Reife und Professionalisie...

“Exposure to communication content” describes one of the most recent areas of specialization within the communication discipline. It is located at the intersection of → media effects research and audience research, two academic traditions that have remained relatively separate. Over the past half a century, the well‐established tradition of media e...

This study attempted to (a) extend traditional mood management theory research by investigating the influence of the intrinsic needs for competence and autonomy on selective exposure to video games and (b) test the influence of satisfying these needs on resultant mood repair. An experiment varied satisfaction of competence and autonomy needs using...