The main objective of this research is to analyze the content of YouTuber's videos that have the greatest impact on adolescents and their relationship with the construction of identity. The YouTube platform is one of the most commonly used by Spanish teenagers and around 70% of young people between 14 and 17 years of age prefer this network. YouTubers are perceived by young people as their equals, approachable people who share similar traits to their own, which facilitates rapid identification. A qualitative analysis of the content of 22 videos on the YouTube platform was carried out using the Atlas.ti program. The analysis led to several emerging codes related to the construction of adolescent personal identity. Most of the messages relating to personal identity were aimed at transmitting the self-impression of the YouTuber and the relationship of that self-impression with his gender identity, sexual orientation, and vocational identity. Also, family and peers appeared in the videos, especially as providers of social support. Teen followers include messages to support YouTubers, express their identification with the messages and use comment spaces to describe their own experiences, expressing the same concerns in the configuration of their identity. It is necessary to take into account this new space of interrelation to understand the development of young people’s identity. El objetivo general de esta investigación consiste en analizar el contenido de los vídeos de los youtubers de mayor impacto entre los adolescentes y su relación con la construcción de la identidad. La plataforma YouTube es una de las más utilizadas por los adolescentes españoles, ya que alrededor del 70% de los jóvenes entre 14 y 17 años prefieren esta red. Los youtubers son percibidos por los jóvenes como sus iguales, personas cercanas que comparten rasgos similares a los suyos, lo que facilita la rápida identificación con ellos. Se ha realizado un análisis cualitativo del contenido de 22 vídeos de la plataforma YouTube mediante el programa Atlas.ti. El análisis ha dado lugar a varios códigos emergentes relacionados con la construcción de la identidad personal en la adolescencia. La mayoría de los mensajes sobre la identidad personal estaban orientados a transmitir la autodefinición que hace el youtuber sobre sí mismo y la relación de esa autoimagen con su identidad de género, orientación sexual e identidad vocacional. Además, la familia y los iguales aparecen en los vídeos, especialmente como proveedores de apoyo social. Los seguidores adolescentes incluyen mensajes de apoyo al youtuber, manifiestan su identificación con los mensajes y utilizan los espacios de comentarios para exponer sus experiencias personales, expresando las mismas inquietudes en la configuración de su identidad. Es necesario tener en cuenta este nuevo espacio de interrelación en la comprensión del desarrollo identitario de los jóvenes.

El presente trabajo pretende, por un lado, analizar la situación del consumo de noticias y contenidos audiovisuales de adolescentes y jóvenes a través de internet. En segundo lugar, también tiene como objetivo delimitar los métodos de medición de esos consumos, tanto desde el ámbito profesional como académico. Los jóvenes se mantienen interesados por la información de actualidad, aunque se está produciendo cambios en su patrón de consumo, caracterizado por el acceso casual a la noticia desde las redes sociales, la vigilancia o monitoreo rápido en internet y el acceso a medios tradicionales para ampliar información. Los jóvenes acceden a la programación televisiva a través de diferentes dispositivos, siendo sus principales intereses las series de ficción, el cine y los programas de entretenimiento. Finalmente, se describen los métodos de medición de audiencias digitales en la actualidad y se constata su bajo impacto en la investigación académica.

The confinement imposed by measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic may in the short and medium term have psychological and psychosocial consequences affecting the well-being and mental health of individuals. This study aims to explore the role played by group membership and social and personal identities as coping resources to face the experience of the COVID-19 confinement and radical disruption of social, work, family and personal life in a sample of 421 people who have experienced a month of strict confinement in the Region of Madrid. Our results show that identity-resources (membership continuity/new group memberships, and personal identity strength) are positively related to process-resources (social support and perceived personal control), and that both are related to better perceived mental health, lower levels of anxiety and depression, and higher well-being (life satisfaction and resilience) during confinement. These results, in addition to providing relevant information about the psychological consequences of this experience, constitute a solid basis for the design of psychosocial interventions based on group memberships and social identity as coping resources.

Self-regulation is a basic skill that can prevent problematic Internet and smartphone use in adolescence (LaRose et al., 2003). The present study explored regulation strategies in the use of this device, as well as the relationships between such strategies and the background variables of Caplan's (2010) model, to identify those adolescents who present high or low negative consequences of Internet use. With a representative sample of adolescents from 1st to 4th year of secondary education in the Community of Madrid (N = 524, Mage= 13.57, SD= 1.24, Range= 12-17), our results indicated that parents were the ones who regulated smartphone use in about half of the adolescents. Self-regulation deficit with cognitive rumination, parent intervention to regulate the use of this device and the variables of Caplan’s (2010) model -except for online emotional regulation- were significant predictors to identify those adolescents who showed high or low negative consequences. Educational implications and future lines of research are also discussed La autorregulación constituye una habilidad básica que puede prevenir el uso problemático de internet y del smartphone en la etapa adolescente (LaRose et al., 2003). El presente estudio explora las estrategias de regulación del uso de este dispositivo, así como las relaciones de tales estrategias y de las variables antecedentes del modelo de Caplan (2010) para identificar a aquellos adolescentes que presentan altas o bajas consecuencias negativas del uso de internet. Con una muestra representativa de adolescentes de 1º a 4º de la ESO de la Comunidad de Madrid (N = 524, Medad = 13.57, DT = 1.24, Rango = 12-17), nuestros resultados apuntaron a que son los padres los que regulaban el uso del smartphone en cerca de la mitad de los adolescentes. El déficit de autorregulación con rumiación cognitiva, la intervención de los padres para regular el uso de este dispositivo y las variables del modelo de Caplan (2010) –excepto la regulación emocional online- fueron predictores significativos para identificar a aquellos adolescentes que mostraban altas o bajas consecuencias negativas. Las implicaciones educativas y las futuras líneas de investigación son resaltadas.

The preference for online social interaction has been seen as an antecedent for problematic use of the Internet and social networks, which is associated with problems of social anxiety and a lack of social skills. Based on a survey with a representative sample of 524 students in Compulsory Secondary Education (aged 12-14) in the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain), the role of motives of use as a factor that explains the problematic use of the Internet has been analysed as a mediating component between such problematic use and the preference for online social interaction. The results show that only when social networks are used to expand relationships and as a form of self-expression are there negative consequences for the individual, but not when such networks are used to maintain close relationships. Finally, is has been observed that such motives, which moderately predict problematic use, only slightly explain in part the relationship between the preference for online social interaction and problematic use. Therefore, further research is needed to investigate other motives for use that mediate this association, as well as the connection between the motive to expand social relationships together with self-expression, and other pre-existing personality factors that might lead to problematic use of the Internet and social networks.