Online support groups are widely used for numerous types of distress areas, but relatively little has been empirically examined to date in regard to their effectiveness in providing emotional relief to participants as claimed. The current study aimed at testing a possible moderator affecting participants' emotional relief when using an online support group: the degree of active involvement. This subject was explored by investigating the number of main and response messages that 20 randomly selected participants posted, as well as the number of replies they received, over the course of three months of participation in an open, online support group intended for suicidal and severely distressed adolescents. Level of distress was measured by a thematic analysis of main messages posted by the participants that was conducted by three pre‐trained, expert judges. Results revealed that although the level of participants’ distress did not change over time, on the average, it was significantly correlated with activity level: the higher the number of posts and replies, the lower the level of distress in following months. Implications of these findings for the application and facilitation of online support groups are discussed.

Communication between parent and child regarding pornography can be awkward. In the following study, we examined if parenting style (authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive) and gender was associated with parental mediation strategies (restrictive, active, and co-use) in relation to pornography exposure, mediated by threat appraisal and coping appraisal (protection motivation theory). A sample of 1,070 Israeli parents of 10- to 14-year-old youth completed a set of online questionnaires. Findings suggested that authoritarian and permissive parents, who had lower scores in authoritative parenthood, were more likely to have dysfunctional (i.e., low-quality) communication about pornography and subsequently be less active in their mediation regarding pornography. Conversely, parents who were more authoritative were more likely to perceive 1 the severity of pornography consumption and were more restrictive and active in mediating pornography. Finally, fathers tended to have more dysfunctional communication about pornography than mothers and were consequently less active in their mediation strategies concerning pornography.

The present study examined sexting habits (sending text messages, as well as nude or semi-nude photos, and/or requesting the same from others) among adolescents, as reported by 458 students (101 boys, 357 girls), with the aim of investigating whether and how sexting correlates with parenting styles and manifestations of parental social control. An online link was published on social media, asking participants who meet the research criteria to complete several questionnaires. About 30% of the participants reported sending sexual messages, and almost 32% reported that others, mainly strangers, asked them to send nude or semi-nude photos. Furthermore, sexting was more common among high-school students than among middle-school students, and asking another person to send nude or semi-nude photos was more common among boys than among girls. Lower parental social control was related to increased likelihood of sexting, and higher perception of permissive parenting style was associated with asking someone else to send nude or semi-nude photos. These findings shed light on sexting among adolescents in Israel. Moreover, the findings show that adolescents do not report sexting either to parents or to other significant adults in their lives, such as teachers or other educational staff at school. The article concludes with implications for educators and educational counselors in view of these findings.