a b s t r a c tThe use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is of immense importance in today's digital knowledge society. As a basis for private and vocational participation in society, ICT literacy has been widely discussed in recent decades. Although motivational and metacognitive facets play an important role in developing ICT literacy and competence, studies assessing media, computer or ICT literacy often fail to present a comprehensive concept on these motivational and metacognitive facets. This article addresses this issue by integrating them into the concept of ICT engagement. Its theoretically deduced dimensions of ICT-related interest, self-concept related to the use of ICT, and social exposure to ICT were analyzed in an explorative study assessing N = 445 students aged between 14 and 17 years in the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The obtained dimensional structure included the assumed factors, and suggested to distinguish a positive and a negative self-concept on using ICT as well as to separate interest in computers and interest in mobile devices factor. The ICT engagement dimensions were related to individual differences in behavioral, cognitive and emotional ICT constructs as expected.

No abstract

No abstract

This study examines community service effects on adolescents’ prosocial behaviors as mediated through experiences made during service. Based on theoretical assumptions by Youniss and Yates, we suggest that personal agency experiences and being confronted with situations that can challenge the own world views (ideology experiences) serve as mediators. The data were collected in a two-wave longitudinal study surveying 2,408 German adolescents aged between 14 and 15 years. Based on true intraindividual change models, the results support the expected mediation of service effects on prosocial behaviors through agency, but not ideology experiences. The findings suggest that community service affects prosocial behaviors through a behavioral pathway.

No abstract